After much promise of weekly updates, I am sorry to say the Dev Cat challenge has made its return a good few weeks behind schedule.
After a year and a half of thinking getting a degree involved nothing more than going to Corp on a Wednesday, the Journalism department decided to spring some work on me! Outrageous, I know, but luckily for you dear readers I still managed to find time for the 5th edition of the world’s favourite ale almanac.
So let me waste no more time and introduce this week’s guest reviewer.
Martin Knight
Martin “In Shining Armour” Knight comes to us from the world of foreign languages - Spanish, to be precise. As well as spending his time mastering a foreign tongue or two, Martin also enjoys conquering a good climbing wall and shredding away to Van Halen. I’m sure he won’t mind me telling you that he also is rather fond of leopard print.This week saw us broaden our horizons with beers from as far away as the USA and Indonesia, with surprising results. As ever, relax and enjoy, but please read responsibly.
Veltins - German - 4.8% - Pilsner 50cl - £2.90
The menu says: This beer is regarded by many as one of Germany’s very best examples of the pilsner style; it’s a pale golden, with a good rocky head and a lively but fine carbonation. The aroma is dry and with a slight earthiness to the hop scents, leading to a clean and overall notably dry palate but with a softly sweet tough to the texture, giving a body that’s weightier than some of the more lightweight lagers without sacrificing the very easy drinkability. Very well-balanced with lots of flavour and a good body but still hoppy and refreshing.
We say: For a bottled lager, we were both very impressed with the Veltins. Refreshing like a draught lager, but retaining the meaty texture that often benefits the bottled beverage, the beer gave none of the dirty aftertaste that so often accompanies cheap, mass-produced lagers.
The more of the Veltins we drank, the easier it went down due to the carefully balanced fizz. Martin compared the beer’s journey down his throat to a fresh waterfall, whilst I opted for the slightly less appealing, but eqally apt ‘moistened eel’. Not a stunning, good-god-it’s-heavenly drink, but still very nice, we gave the Veltins the distinction of being “much better than Stella”. A lager I would choose over most others on a hot summer’s day.
Moore Rating: 8/10 Knight Rating: 7.5/10
Anchor Porter - American - 5.6% - 35.5cl - £2.60
The menu says: Deep black in colour, a thick creamy head and intensely rich chocolatey flavours.
We say: Readers may remember the smoked “sausage beer” from the first edition of the Dev Cat Challenge. The Anchor Porter is a drinkable version of that.
As my experience of American beer extends only as far as the dismal Budweiser, I was unsure about the Anchor before we even ordered it. I am glad to say though, the Yanks have produced a beer which has some flavour. A treacley taste was the first to hit my mouth, and although the beer is quite gassy, it is quite easy to drink at first.
However, as the glass (which, by the way, is one of the funkiest beer glasses I’ve seen in some time) emptied, our reluctance to drink grew. The flavour stays strong all the way down the beer, which is definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, you also feel like you’ve eaten a hefty sandwich by the time you finish the glass, which on a 5- or 6-beer session is no good thing.
I generally like to think of a good beer as part of my 5-a-day recommendation. However, Martin put it best when he said the Anchor was “like a venison of a beer”. Rich and full of good flavour, but to be considered as a snack rather than a drink.
Moore Rating: 6.5/10 Knight Rating: 6/10
Rochefort 8 - Belgian Trappist - 9.2% - 33cl - £3.80
The Menu says: Dry but rich with sweet tea and fig notes to complement the aromatic fullness.
We say: Ouch.
At 9.2% this beer was never going to be easy-going. The high alcohol content combined with the sharp taste common in trappist beers made for initial difficulties in the drinking process. However, the high alcohol content soon remedied these difficulties and made the Rochefort a little more drinkable.
Whilst the beer did have an interesting fruity taste, any subtleties were eliminated by the alcohol, and at £3.80 for just 33cl of drink, we expected something a little more distinctive. We could quite easily have got the same effect the Rochefort produced from a two-litre bottle of cheap cider, without losing too much of the taste. This beer either needed to taste better or cost less - not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, but far too pricey for what it actually is.
Moore Rating: 4/10 Knight Rating: 4.5/10
Watou’s Wit - Belgian Wheat Beer - 5.0% - 25cl - £2.55
The Menu says: Definite coriander emphasis in this slightly dark foamy white beer from Van Ecke - famous for hommelbier.
We say: As soon as we saw Watou’s Wit in it’s glass, we were reminded of the infamous ‘pale ale’ scene in American Pie. Enough to put even the strongest stomachs off their pints, you might think. In the spirit of good journalism we soldiered on though, and were disappointed to learn that our worst fears might just have been realised.
The only advantage the Watou’s Wit had is that it tasted slightly better than it smelled. An awful aftertaste and a horriby acidic body made this beer almost undrinkable. The coriander emphasis mentioned in the menu must have been in what the writer was smoking at the time, because Watou’s Wit tasted more like another of Watou’s fluids - and not one that should be on sale in 25cl bottles. Avoid this beer.
Moore Rating: 1/10 Knight Rating: 1/10
Küppers Kölsch - German - 4.8% - Kolsch 50cl - £2.95
The Menu says: A straw coloured kolsch with a lagery malt aroma with a hint of apples. A lively palate with gentle flavours of honey, apples, oranges, bitter zesty notes and vanilla. A light finish with apple and lemon notes fading to a gentle cider aftertaste. A refreshing beer with a combination of lager and ale characteristics typical of the style.
We say: By this point in the night, it would seem our patience with poor beers had run out. Of all the derogatory terms written in my notebook, the least offensive mainly involved cheese, which featured quite heavily in the Kölsch’s flavour and aroma. Quite drinkable but with an extremely odd taste, this is a beer that may require a fondness for gorgonzola to enjoy. It was, however, nicer than Watou’s Wit, so things were looking up at this point in the evening.
Moore Rating: 3/10 Knight Rating: 3/10 Cheese Rating: 3.5/10
Bir Bintang - Indonesia - 4.8% - 33cl - £2.50
The Menu says: Similar to a Dutch Pilsner, this Indonesian speciality is dry, hoppy and full of flavour.
We say: Having spent some of the evening discussing Indonesia’s ‘half-man half-tree’ we were immediately apprehensive of this Javanese lager. Things went from unnecessarily suspicious to needlessly outraged after we were given the bottles with no glasses.
We were disappointed to learn that this particular brand of Indonesian beer to nothing to enhance the islands’ repuatation as brewers. It was bland and gassy, with a taste that brought to mind a cucumber left in the fridge for too long. When compared to the refreshing fullness of the Veltins at the start of the evening, it seemed odd that anyone would choose the Indonesian beer.
Moore Rating: 1/10 Knight Rating: 3/10
No more beers for this edition - we’ve spent far too much already. Keep an eye out for the 6th edition of the Dev Cat Challenge soon after the Sheffield Beer Festival, when we will bring you the delights of Kenyan beer and the most alcoholic beer in the world!
If you would like to be a guest reviewer on Moore and More’s Devonshire Cat Challenge, simply email drink@shefbase.com.
