Beers to Try-anuary!

Following on from our previous article, Tryanuary encourages beer fans to support independent breweries, pubs and bars throughout January, you can learn more by visiting their website www.tryanuary.com

There’s been a great Welsh participation from the likes of Tomas & Lilford hosting a local CAMRA branch meeting, Bottle & Barrel in Aberystwyth doing a meet the brewer night with Cardiff’s Rival Brewery and Dog’s Window launching a number of special Tryanuary beers. Wales Ales have a special Tryanuary Bumper pack and discounts, Pop N Hops in Cardiff had a whole Tryanuary Tap Weekend and The Ale Trail are offering a special early bird discount for their Vale of Glamorgan Trail in April. As we’re getting towards the end of Tryanuary we thought we would look at some beers which might be a break from your usual tipple, so here’s 6 you might like to ‘Try’ …

Railmill – Go Off The Rails 7.2% abv
Railmill is a new brewery based in Cwmavon, the beers are themed around the industrial heritage of the local area going back to the 19th century and more specifically, based on the iron and rail production industries in the Afan Valley. Go Off the Rails is a strong dark ale, left to condition in the bottle for an extended period to provide depth and flavour. Subtly influenced by the Abbey style beers of Europe. This is their take on that style with a couple of twists, generous hop additions and use of local ingredients. We really enjoyed this, it’s full bodied, mahogany in colour and packed with UK and German hops.  Rocking in at 7.2% it is not for the faint hearted.

Pipes – California Pale 5% abv 
This was one of our favourite beers at the Great Welsh Beer Festival in October and proved you can have super hoppy pale beers in a cask.  We love that their packaging differs from most, instead of the usual label the bottle is wrapped in branded paper with a tasting notes tag. It’s a thirst quenching, refreshing take on the West Coast USA pale ale style, light pale and very hoppy with fruity undertones. The US hops add a zest and tropical fruit flavours. It’s worth finding out about the backstory to why they’re called Pipes, that’s a story for another day but let’s just say it’s an anagram of Pepsi.

Polly’s Brew – El Dorado Mosiac India Pale Ale 6.5% abv
This Mold based brewery has been creating waves throughout the UK and specialises in very hoppy pales and IPAs. We could have chosen any number of their beers but thought we’d look at this 6.5% craft monster. The brewers passion clearly comes through on their beers and you can tell they like to make what they love to drink. This is a typical Polly’s, a lip smacking, hazy and hopped out juice bomb of an IPA.

Wye Valley Meadery – Honey & Ginger 4.0% abv
To paraphrase Tom Cruise in Top Gun, “I feel the need, the need for Mead!”
Mead is fast becoming a fashionable drink again and our prediction of the break-out style for 2020. This one for the ginger nuts out there. Ever thought about dipping a ginger biscuit in honey? Of course you have. Who hasn’t? Brewed with 100% Honey, the result is a very pale and very sweet ginger infused mead, and when we say pale we’re talking almost clear!

Tenby Harbwr – Trawler’s Dread 5.4% abv
An oxymoron of a beer, it’s a black IPA. Dark like a stout, but hoppy in taste, one that will definitely play with your senses. A delicious 5.4% Black IPA hopped using American Citra, Simcoe and Comet hops, but if that wasn’t different enough already, it’s also made
with an extra special ingredient … seaweed!

Drop Bear – Bonfire Stout 0.5% abv
So to finish us off, how about combining Try with Dry? Swansea based Drop Bear is Wales’ only Alcohol free brewery. Can you have a good non alcoholic stout? Simply put, yes. True to the style there’s complex notes of roasted coffee and smoked malt. Made in the style of a traditional Irish stout, this might be a bit thin in comparison but we feel comparing to the likes of a Guinness maybe unfair, it’s non alcoholic so should be compared to other non alcoholic beverages you’d find in a pub, and on that note it scores very highly. This stout is on a mission to show the alcohol free scene what a real stout is made of. Vegan and gluten-free, of course.