Coourage Imperial Stout back?

It was there. It also was the only beer over 6% abv at the fest. It was very good, but could benefit from some ageing. When I saw it I wished I had brought one of my bottles of the '83 (which at 20 years is still going strong...) I couldn't get an answer if it is going to be a regular beer or if this was just a one off brew.

Fred Waltman

Max wrote

small

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Hi Max, I tried the cask Courage IRS at GBBF - I hope I don't add too much salt to the wound :~) by saying it was great - deep dark, strong, roasty, rich, fruity, bitter, complex, etc, etc, - everything a true strong stout should be IMO.

A chap called Silk Tork, a beerfan extraordinaire (regular contributor to

very interesting stuff it is too (techie in parts- he spoke with their Brewing Dev Mgr, but very enthusiastic too) - nice to see brewers of a

According to the Courage Brewing Development Manager (via Silk Tork's ratebeer.com piece above) the beer was a one-off & won't be available in bottled form (incidentally I read that the same brewer was responsible for "the world's most expensive beer" - which I presume was the Ancient Egyptian style emmer beer that S&N did in 1996).

I think I read in CAMRA's What'sBrewing mag which ScotCo brewery made the cask Imperial Stout - but I can't remember for sure, I *think* it might have been Theakston's in Masham (certainly seems likely - with their ability to do quite short brewlength & cask beer facility & experience, unlike some ScotCo sites like Reading)

The piece also mentions Courage having done a cask(?) version for GBBF before in the 1990s - anyone remember when that was?

I can't remember who it was who told me the tale (not sure if it's true!) about the new brewery stock-takers (after the S&N/Courage merger) working in a Courage brewery/depot & coming upon a few pallets of this beer with no best-before-date that was brewed years before, and ordering its disposal!

I hope it's not true - surely someone in the brewery/store would know this beers worth - even if they just sold it in one go to a wholesaler or specialist beer shop? cheers MikeMcG.

Max wrote

No, AFAIK John Smith's in Tadcaster are still there - brewing lovely creamy nitrokeg John Smith's Smooth :~) plus JS cask beer and Webster's, Courage Best & Directors. (Do not all rush at once, there's enough for everyone, make an orderly queue now) cheers Mike

Wrong.

Although the availability of British beers over that level is such that they are more likely to appear at a winter ales festival the BSF bar had no end of beers over 6% and one was at some massively stupid ABV in the

Why would anyone want to drink a typical winter ale during one of the country's record breakingly hot periods anyway?

That's the disorderly "queue" to get *out* you're looking at :-)

IIRC it was served at the Theakston's bar at the GBBF, so that might be a good guess.

Fred Waltman Los Angeles, CA

In article , Steven Pampling writes

And, equally importantly, why do we have three separate threads on the same subject?

snipped-for-privacy@LABeer.com (Fred Waltman) wrote

The trouble is I think that the same bar had Courage Best & Director's, and JohnSmith's Bitter (all AFAIK brewed at J.Smith, Tadcaster) & also the other non-Masham Theakston beers - CoolCask, XB, Best - brewed by S&N on Tyneside?

So from that it's not very clear as to which plant made it. cheers Mike.

Yes, I can testify to the fact that it was at the GBBF, as I had two pints of the stuff! A bit expensive though, but one of the nicest beers I've had. Not saure how I got home though!.

Mark

Mark Gary wrote

I didn't know about the price as while working on the BieresSansFrontiers stand I was given a pint of it to throw away by someone who thought it undrinkable :~)

This sort of thing happened from time to time & was the same way I got to try the (I suspect even more expensive) 20%+abv Dogfish Worldwide Stout :~)

about the 3Threads business Roy (& I'm not talking about Harwood's Entirely different subject) I think it may have something to do with Max posting separately to ukfdra & rfdb & me replying to them both separately & together! - apologies,

cheers MikeMcG PS ObligatoryBeeriness - lovely couple of pints of flowery & nicely bitter cask Beartown Kodiak Gold & locally-roasted peanuts (I kid you not, but nothing special!) with a final very pleasant (winey, rummy & roasty) pint of Old Peculier in a thatched pub - The Wheatsheaf, Raby, Wirral, Merseyside (I didn't mind the mildly noticeable dope-smoke, I did mind the piercing mobile phone tone tho).

Because one enjoys beer, and doesn't have some IMO weird notion that stronger beers are only tasty if the mercury falls below a certain level.

-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots

"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."

Yep. It was wonderful stuff, too. Very nice and rich. And remarkably smooth for being young.

It was served from the Theakston's booth. I don't recall the story if how it was brewed again. Peter Alexander, I think, knows, so he needs to get off his arse and post.

And, yes, it was just cask.

-Steve