First tasting of the Beer By Numbers beers

As promised from our round of Bermondsey breweries – Beer By Numbers was not serving beers, but we have bought a few beers: 2 IPAs, Golden Ale, Red Ale, Original Porter, Stout Porter and Barrel Aged Imperial Porter.

We are usually not big Porter drinkers in the house, so it was nice to go into slightly different styles. To the tastings:

09/09/2014 – Tried 2 beers: the Indian Pale Ale (usually my wife’s favourite) and the Golden Ale. The base recipe from what I can see is very similar, but the difference thanks to the dry hoping in the IPA was big. My wife actually preferred the Golden Ale, claiming the IPA was too strong (7.2%) and tasted too sharp. I enjoyed both, but the IPA flavour had very strong hop, and I prefer my base flavour to be a bit fuller than what light ales have to offer. Probably will go well as cold refreshers at any given day, but I’m not sure we’ll return to those specific beers.

10/09/2014 – Another nice evening saw us trying the Red Ale and the Original Porter. Both were very nice with the Red Ale featuring an American style red, using Bramling Cross hops that were present but blended well, giving a very refreshing beer. The Porter was excellent (I might start drink more porters) using Colombus and Bramling hops that just gave a light aroma and a hint at the end that went very well with the chocolaty finish of the Porter.

12/09/2014 – Last round of the Beer By Number, this time it is the Imperial Stout and the Barrel Aged Porter.Both beers were excellent, but they are no light drinking. Very strong flavours and presence, which should be enjoyed slowly, letting the beer warm up and open. The stout was very creamy, with a distinct cacao and coffee flavours, the finish was almost like a “coffee bark” if there is anything like that. The porter was excellent to my opinion, very nice whiskey under tone, high alcohol level and no hoppy presence besides good bittering to kick off the whiskey taste.

As you can see, a great range, and it seems to be a fraction of what this great brewery has to offer. Lately BBNO got an equity investment from BrewDog (Yes, I also have equity there…), so that might mean great things for them. A quick browse through BBNo’s website can reveals how they organize the beers and recipes, so have a look, seems to be a long tasting session to try them all….

Last, I’m going to try more porters from now on, as I very much enjoyed the new flavours, and might try the idea of barrel aged with whiskey soaked chips, now all I need is to choose the whiskey (probably Scotch), any recommendation? Let me now your ideas.