Tasting The WEST Haul – The ultimate mixed case
Disclaimer: Although there were 12 beers supplied both a can and a bottle version of St Mungo was supplied as such there will only be 11 tasting notes below. As has been stated before, I am not a trained taster or any such thing and the impressions are purely my own.
Also please excuse the quality of the photographs, again certainly not my forte.
- A lovely little number, sits a little heavy on the palette but ultimately very drinkable. With the brewery being based in Glasgow but a German spirit I'm basing each beer on "can i imagine drinking it at either the Christmas Markets or Bierkeller". with this yes, yes i can.
A little bit of context with the above thought. WEST Brewery is a German-style brewery abiding by the German purity law with the owner hailing originally from Bavaria.
HEIDI WEISS - Unfiltered Wheat Beer 5.2%
- Oh no I don't think Wheat beers are for me.
- And yet as I grew more accustomed to it, I wanted more and more...
- I think it's because it's so different to what I’d had previously I was shocked but now...I definitely want another.
- An aggressive punch in the mouth with the first mouthful, but you get used to it pretty instantly. The punch isn't necessarily bad by the way just more lets you know it's there. Once I grew acclimatised this became a really enjoyable beer
FEIRABEND - Pilsner 4.6%- Much more
like it, typically a "German beer". I'm not sure exactly how you
would pronounce the name of it but it's just a really good standard pilsner.
- I mean it was always going to struggle because it's a low percent pale ale, but it's lacking in some of the bigger flavours of the other drinks. Tastes more watery than beery which is again probably to be expected with the low alcohol percentage. I'm aware I’m not the target audience for this, but it’s not doing an awful lot for me even discounting the ABV.
- Now this is something I agree with, it claims the purity standard and I believe it. Bold taste that dissipates into a light aeration genuinely lovely.
- A peculiar beast. As before the German influence sings
through, but something doesn’t click it’s obviously a session beer in that it
feels that way in the mouth an obvious absence of alcohol, but then an
overpowering after taste which wasn’t to my liking especially.
- Oooh that’s a good colour was the initial thought as I poured it. I can't recall ever having this dark a lager before. Hard to find anything negative to say about this one, just the right amount of everything and a great lingering after taste which enhances with each drink.
- G40 - Bit lively like! This goes against the brand really, it’s what I'd call a cooking beer but not distastefully, I often add a good ale to chili or casseroles to enhance to flavour and typically this is closer to what I'd usually drink (IPA man)
- Have
to be honest I'm apprehensive here. It looks like I've poured a rum and coke. it’s
a bit of a curiosity this on one hand it's a lager no way round it but it’s so
much more complex, each mouthful reveals new flavours that dance around... a
really strange but ultimately wonderful taste. Just different enough to make it
stand out without being alienating.
BLACK - Stout - 4.6%
- And here we go, the drink I am most worried about
typically I’m not a fan of stout at all, but this is all about opening my eyes
to new beers. It obviously looks the part and is as black as night, probably
what they were going for here goes.
Huh…
So, at this
point I feel I have to be open and honest and act with integrity, I didn’t make
any more notes because I couldn’t get over the fact how much I enjoyed it. It
tasted almost velvet like with such a pleasant before and aftertaste which just
coated your mouth like chocolate.
It was nothing short of gorgeous and I didn’t expect on brewery number one, to
have my preconceptions of stout to be challenged so fervently.
Since the writing of the first blog, I've decided against discussing the least favourite beer, would I buy again and would I recommend them. The whole idea of this blog is to bring a bit of joy to beer, to broaden my horizons and if the reader is so inclined make their own mind up as to whether they would want to experience the beers themselves.
I’d hate to be the reason that a brewery didn’t get custom because I wouldn’t recommend or reorder (for what it’s worth I’d do both with this brewery, again I didn’t want this to be a thinly veiled version of not recommending).
I will say my favourite beer though as that is naturally a personal thing and it was a close-run thing between the BLACK Stout and HEIDI WEISS Wheat Beer. They are the two beers that challenged me the most and my previous experiences, but also the two beers that left me wanting another.
Based on that I have to say the BLACK Stout was my favourite beer from WEST Brewery.
Not a bad accolade for a man who outright said I won’t like this before I drank it, how wrong I was.
If you have even a passing interest in beer and the background behind them please do yourself a favour and check out this breweries story, the amount of love and dedication they have put into their website, detailing the stories of their beer is certainly reflected in how they taste and it’s interesting to boot.
