Two Scoops Honeycomb Ice Cream Stout (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, and especially in this weather. It’s baking hot outside and I’m cooking a big steak and chips for dinner. I like a stout with my steak. I found two stouts in my cavernous beer fridge. I decided to pick this one.

This Brewdog collaboration with Mackie’s of Scotland has come up with Two Scoops Honeycomb Ice Cream Stout. I love honeycomb ice cream. At 7% in volume, this milk stout has natural flavourings added in the brewing to produce its honeycomb flavour.

On opening the can there was a creamy sweet toffee aroma from the almost jet black liquid. Two Scoops Honeycomb Ice Cream Stout pours thick and dark. It had a creamy velvet texture with sweet honeycomb from the initial flavour right through to the aftertaste. There was a little bitterness in the middle from the hops, and sumptuous body from the oats and chocolate malts. Simply gorgeous.

Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout (Asda) By @SpectreUK

Unfortunately there's been some controversy around Brewdog recently, so I was in two minds whether to write about this beer. Personally I've never tried a bad beer from Brewdog, and I try my best to keep any sort of politics, so to speak, out of the blog. I guess it should be just about the beer or snack food that I'm writing about at the time. Besides this Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout sounded too interesting not to write about.

On opening the stout this 7% in volume Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout had a sweet chocolatey aroma. It was almost black in colour on pouring. Layer Cake smelt like a thickly coated chocolate fudge cake. I couldn't help but think "yum" just on pouring it. There was a sweet marshmallow taste on my initial mouthful, followed by a velvety malted chocolate flavour that sumptuously soothed my tastebuds into the aftertaste. Just gorgeous. Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout Is a perfect pudding beer. Yum!

O-G Hazy Beer (Asda @BrewDog) By @SpectreUK

"Embrace the opaque" the side of the can states with this 7.2% in volume O-G Hazy. This beer is a New England IPA you certainly can't see through. This slightly smaller 440ml can of beer was brewed by a favourite brewer of mine called Brewdog. Although there aren't any brewers I can think of that aren't also my favourite brewers, so that probably says something about me!

O-G Hazy is dry hopped and suggests flavours of citrus fruits such as mango, pineapple and lime. This beer should go down a treat with duck meal I have for dinner. It sounds pretty posh, and also healthy - the duck, not so much the beer! I found that my evening meal is so low in calories I had a blast at lunchtime with a bacon sandwich and two fried eggs on top! And so to the beer…

On opening the can there was a decent citrus aroma of pineapple and lime from the hops, with a hint of mango, and a sweetness following from the pale malts. On pouring this light golden India Pale Ale is certainly hazy in appearance. O-G Hazy looks like a thick shiny soup with a light head and a cheerful fizz. The bitter citrus hops snapped at my tastebuds to start with. Those crisp pineapple and lime flavours sprang forwards to begin with, then a slight hint from the mango flavour. The sweetness from the pale malts smoothed out the bitter hops into the aftertaste. This is a very flavoursome beer indeed and went rather well with my duck meal. And as Basil Fawlty said; "if you don't like duck, you're out of luck!"

Brewdog Quench Quake (Asda) By @SpectreUK

What's with all these sour beers Cinabar keeps buying me? I'm sure I've done something wrong! It's only the odd one here and there that I actually enjoy. Produced by Brewdog, this 4.6% volume Quench Quake is a citrus sour. The additional grapefruit and tangerine in the ingredients are supposed to create a seismic quake in your tastebuds. Boasting tart flavours of lemon, tangerine, grapefruit and sour apple, and with barley biscuit flavour, this Quench Quake does sound like something to drink in the summertime.

On opening the bottle there was certainly a very sour citrus aroma and with a touch of malted barley. This bright shining golden sour beer is also pretty fizzy. On first taste the sourness pounced on my tastebuds without the slightest warning or tremor. Gosh what a tart blast to my senses it was, but it was not unpleasant like some of the other sour beers I've tried. However I couldn't pick out the different citrus flavours in the sourness. There is certainly an initial sour citrus flavour though which is fairly closely followed by a sweetness from the malted barley. There is still that citrusy sourness throughout the flavour, which like I said, is not unpleasant but certainly quenches any thirst I had before starting!

Brewdog 5am Saint Beer (Sainsbury’s) By @SpectreUK

The name of this beer makes me think I should drink it at 5am, rather than just before I go to see a murder mystery at the theatre. It sounds like a pick-me-up after a long night on the tiles, maybe even a 'hair of the dog' to get rid of a hangover. However, I'm drinking it at dinnertime instead of eating dinner after a vast lunch straight from the gym. Produced by Brewdog this 5% volume beer was brewed with five malts and six hops. That's an awful lot of flavour to cram into a 330ml bottle. It's an American Red Ale sporting fruitiness, citrus bursts, caramel, chocolate, spiciness and biscuit malts. Wow! This beer sounds like chaos in a beer glass.

On opening the bottle there was a dominant herbal hop aroma with a touch of citrus and a little sweet malted barley at the end of the smell. 5am Saint is a deep red almost brown colour with an excitable head. On taste this beer is not for the faint hearted. All those who like their beer smooth, creamy and largely tasteless please leave the room. This is a craft beer drinker's drink and with no mistake. Bring out the tastebuds folks, 'cause you're going to need them! There is a blast of herbal hops on first taste which skips and jumps with citrus bitterness. There is sweetness from the crystal malt and hints of malted barley. There is a light touch of chocolate malt with a suggestion of roasted coffee that springs straight to warm spices, finishing on a biscuit cushion of malts that wash round the palate into the aftertaste. If weather was flavour then here is life. There is thunder in the dark, there is lightning, there is hot rain, there is warm Spring sunshine lying in the shade with a beer and a good book. Beautiful. And all first thing in the morning; at 5am precisely.

Brewdog Jack Hammer Beer (Sainsbury’s) By @SpectreUK

Brewdog in Scotland produced this Jack Hammer beer. I do like the odd Brewdog beer now and then. They are always big on flavour and not for the faint hearted. Jack Hammer certainly didn't sound timid to me.  It's described as "Ruthless India Pale Ale" and at 7.2% volume I can well see why.

On cracking open the 330ml can I could smell a herbal hoppy ale with pale malt in the background. On first taste of this golden yet slightly murky pale ale, there was the sheer bitter bite of flavoursome herbal hops. This hoppy bitterness bashes about the tastebuds for a good while, before moving into pale malt and a slight bitter kick up the jacksie on its lipsmacking way into the aftertaste. This is definitely a very tasty craft ale indeed. One to be enjoyed on its own, I think, without washing down any food, although if pushed a spicy Thai or Chinese meal might go down well with it. Try it, I bet you won't be disappointed!

Brewdog Pumpkin King Beer (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

It’s only polite to take along a bottle with you when you’re on the way to a spooky Halloween party. This cheeky monkey decided to dress up as a pumpkin and take along a bottle of pumpkin flavoured ale courtesy of Brewdog. The bottle suggests listening to the Monster Mash really loud while you drink it, but us humans were not allowed in. I managed to catch the little fellow on his way into the party before the burly many toothed bouncers could grab me. On opening the 330ml bottle I could smell the spices from the pumpkin and zesty hops, as well as the sweet smell of caramel malt. At 5.5% volume this golden brown ale is a taste explosion and not for the faint hearted. Crank up the music and flashing multi-coloured lights as the monster party really starts to kick. Sadly for me, Pumpkin Monkey doesn’t like to share much so I managed to get a quick whiff and a couple of sips before he disappeared into the crowd of tentacles, multi-coloured furry things and far too many eyes! The beer itself has an immediate heavy spiciness from the pumpkin mixed in well with the bitterness and zesty flavours from the hops. There is citrus here by the bucket load, dancing around my pallet with the pumpkin spice, sweetness from the caramel malt and a dash of pale, like a cacophonic crazy party of unusual flavours. This beer is one for celebrating, even if it’s on your own or with friends in front of a scary movie!

Elvis Juice (@BrewDog Morrisons) [By @SpectreUK]

Okay, so Elvis Juice is grapefruit infused IPA. I like beer. I like grapefruit. Not sure about the both together though! It’s sounds to me that this beer by Brewdog could be overpoweringly bitter. I tried passion fruit beer a while ago by another brewery; thinking it would be quite sweet, due to many sweet passion fruit drink experiences. How wrong was I? Oh, my… Anyway, I know from fruity experience that grapefruit is very bitter. In fact I only ever drink grapefruit juice when I stay in hotels, and rarely at that. I make a beeline for it at breakfast time. It’s always a good pick-me-up. So after a long gym session this morning and an old man nap this afternoon, I decided to pop open the 330ml bottle. I noticed on the label that this beer had grapefruit peel and also orange peel add during the brewing. I do like orange beer, so I’m feeling a little better…

On opening this 6.5% volume beer smells like a slap round the face from half a grapefruit, a tickle from some cheeky hops and then someone stuck a segment of orange up my nose! I half expected this Elvis Juice to be hot pink as I poured it, however it’s a rich golden colour. There was an immediate hit of grapefruit even from the head. Oh, my… all I can ask is why hasn’t anyone thought of adding grapefruit to beer before? Or have they, if someone did before they were geniuses. The grapefruit runs straight through the flavour dwarfing any hopes of orange, but really, who cares? Maybe the orange works in the background to calm the grapefruit down? This is nothing like the passion fruit beer experience, which was revolting; this grapefruit infused beer is revolutionary. The grapefruit brings out the bitter flavours from the hops like a Sergeant Major lining up the troops and marching them across my senses to join forces with the malts for a sumptuous aftertaste which is difficult not to put beer glass to mouth immediately afterwards. Unlike orange infused beer that goes well with fish, I’m not sure I’d want to drink this beer with any food accompaniment. I would prefer only the accompaniment of a good book, some peace and quiet, and at least another three 330ml friends to enjoy it with.

Nanny State Alcohol Free Ale (@BrewDog) [By SpectreUK]

We’re off to the theatre tonight to watch Annie, with Leslie Joseph, at The Grand. I fancied a beer before I left, but not liking to drink before I drive Cinabar noticed that this Brewdog Nanny State beer I picked up at the local supermarket the other day had 0.5% volume alcohol. I’d chosen the 330ml bottle as it had stated “new” on a label on the shelf, and being a spirited Blogger I thought that I’d give it a try. I remember having a few Brewdog beers in the past and recalled just how uniquely flavoursome they can be, so when Cinabar stated that this was low alcohol beer I was only a little apprehensive. I’ve had a few low alcohol beers in the past and they occasionally seem to be lacking something… I guess it could be classed as the “oomph” that the alcohol can bring. Having said that, I have had just a few low alcohol beers that the flavours of the barley and hops distracted from the lack of booze.

On opening the bottle there was a strong floral hoppy smell with a hint of citrus, which instantly made me feel that the booze just wasn’t going to go amiss. This dark brown beer poured like a rather excited ale with a joyous head. If I hadn’t have read the label at this moment in time I just wouldn’t have noticed its lack of alcohol content. And wow! On flavour this strong bitter hoppy ale packs a punch that screams; “I’m a craft ale and I don’t need booze!” Seriously, I just couldn’t tell it was so low in alcohol. There is an instant floral hoppiness to the flavour with malted barley egging on the bitterness, this smooths out slightly to produce a more rounded citrus hoppy flavour as the beer moves into the aftertaste. I can see designated drivers everywhere raising a glass of this genius Nanny State. Cheers!!

By Spectre