Award winning local brewer, national level customer service.(17/94)
We’re back in England this time round and heading to Worcestershire and visiting Brew 61. Right off the bat I have to point out some fantastic customer service from Brew 61. There was a slight delay with my order owing to a brand-new web-site and teething problems, as such unprompted some free beers were thrown in, which were greatly appreciated, but not needed. It was just a nice little touch.
My order itself was order #413, which I really love finding these niche breweries that might not have the wider spread appeal.
Brew 61 in their own words.
Founded in 2019, Brew 61 is an award-winning 10 BBL micro-brewery based on the family’s farm in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The farming environment has always been the inspiration behind the beers, most of which are named after the farm’s location and its herd of Highland Cows and flock of Dorset sheep. Brew 61 has aptly become known as “The Beer Farm”.
I ordered 12 beers from Brew 61 (11 varieties) which came to a total of £36 with £5 delivery charge, meaning an approximate cost of £3.42 per beer, which is around ball park for a good craft beer.
https://brew61.co.uk/shop/ some new beers are showing on the website now including the fantastically named Wokka Wokka, so check them out and now, onto the beers.
Heading into beer one of Brew 61 I’m cautiously optimistic. I like their general vibe as a brewery and it’s quite interesting that they have a mixture of more traditional beers and those that would be dubbed “craft”.
Hazy Bale Ale, as the name suggests is a gorgeous looking IPA, which has that hazy view which more often than not indicates that it’s going to be wham packed with flavor, this could be noted even on just the pour as the Citra notes flew up out of the glass and created that old faithful involuntary mouthwatering.
A closer inspection to the nose reaffirms the original assumption, with strong notes of grapefruit being first and foremost with a slight beery twang hiding in the background.
This beer surprised me a little bit with taste as this is primarily a hoppy beer flavour that kicks in with an accompaniment of citrus as opposed to something which takes on the properties of a fruit beer. There is a very strong bitter, but not unpleasant bombardment of the mouth which up until the third/fourth drink remains, once the palate becomes accustomed to the flavor however, the bitterness becomes a vehicle for the citrus notes to dance around the roof of the mouth and the tastebuds.
I think this provides an insight as to how Beer 61 are going to work and I anticipate they will be more beer based that some of the previous breweries, we’re not going to be getting anything which is like drinking cherry drops. There is a real fresh and clean flavour to the beer, so hopefully this maintains, with a lovely respect for the produce.
As the picture shows this beer was incredibly lively to the pour and took a considerable amount of time to calm down, maintaining a fierce bubbly head throughout the duration of most of the drink. Beneath that lies and incredibly light and refreshing looking beer which gives the indication of freshness ahead.
To the nose the freshness is also hinted at with a more front and center fruit notes taking over, which to be fair should be expected for a beer describing itself as a fruity pale ale, there is next to no beer hoppy smell coming through, which will be interesting to see if it follows the same taste profile as the previous beer, although being a Pale Ale rather than an IPA, possibly not.
Ah there we go wrong again. Once more first and foremost this is a beer and the initial bitterness once more hits the palate, but accompanied by a much lighter beer than the previous IPA. Following the initial bitter hit, you then get a very light fruitiness with what I believe to be grapefruit being the main fruit that’s pushing through the flavour and most likely a few other citrus notes popped in there for good measure as well.
As could be noted with the picture this is a heavily carbonated drink and is very fizzy on the tongue and roof of the mouth, before subsiding somewhat on actual drink. Overall, there is the freshness which I expected and only the carbonation would get in the way of this session strength beer being drunk for a sustained period, with the blend of hops growing more and more pleasant as the drink went on.
And we’re back although there is no indication on the blog itself (other than it being untimely) I was finally struck down with COVID meaning I’ve not had a beer for a few weeks now, so I’m looking forwards to getting stuck back into the reviews, now that I’m not bed ridden (even if a casual walk still leaves me exhausted).
I don’t believe I’ve ever had a Rye IPA before, further more trying to search for Grateful Deaf is bringing back very little so I’ve no real idea what to expect on this one. Probably something quite earthy and aggressive to the palate.
It certainly poured a lot darker than your standard IPA, the Rye already proving itself to be a powerhouse, just in how the beer looks. The nose gives the impression of heaviness, with a richness and slight caramel undertones.
There’s a really odd taste to this one which I’m not sure I’m a fan of. First off, the rye is full on, to the point that it sits all over the palate quite oppressively. The blurb on the can states that this is a spicy IPA, but I’m struggling to pick out any spicy notes owing to just how overpowering the rye is in the beer.
The more beer that you have you can slightly to begin to pick out the nuances of the beers with very Virement light fruity notes struggling through against the grain. The bitterness gives way to a slight caramelization, but it’s a really challenging beer which struggles a little bit with balance and misses the mark slightly in being welcoming and would put off a number of drinkers.
I have to be honest here, I’ve already had two of these, which were provided as a good will offer by Brew 61, however I had them right at the end of a particularly heavy session, my rationale being that I wouldn’t actually remember it and that’s exactly where we find ourselves now with a clean slate in order to review this beer.
We’re at something which is looking considerably more palatable now, a beer with a lovely golden hue to it. There’s a light fruitiness to the nose and although it didn’t really maintain its head well at all it still looks inviting and appealing.
The first thought is that this presents itself as a strong beer, however unlike the Rye beer, there is a playful fruitiness laced with tropical notes. It also has that slight caramel note which is often the signature of Golden Ales. The can states a big hoppy taste, which I do and don’t agree with, but I think my only apprehension in full agreement is that it’s balanced really nicely, so although there are big hops present it doesn’t feel that way. It’s clean, crisp and strong but not intimidating.
We’re onto the bottled beers now, which in my experience are the ones that fit more as “traditional beers” rather than those infused with fruity notes or the ones that try to be experimental. As this one poured it became apparent immediately that any sort of head would be something that was not going to be present here.
It looks incredibly light though and about as translucent as a beer can be with light permeating with little to no issue at all. One issue might be of my own doing as I instinctively put it in the fridge, however the beer itself states to store in a cool dark place, so maybe refrigeration is not ideal. In fact, trying to discern a nose to the beer I’m just getting the smell of cold more than anything else.
Although being slightly flatter than I would normally go for, there is real nice flavour to this beer. The slight carbonization really enables the hops to shine through, but the beer itself, even though it’s on the strong side for a session is actually really welcoming.
The beer tingles across the palate and quickly fades away, leaving a clean refreshing note across the mouth. I think I might also be getting notes of vanilla from somewhere, which I’m almost 100% sure that I’m wrong about but I can’t describe it any other way. As the palate becomes more accustomed to the beer you start to pick out other little pockets of flavour that dance around the mouth, with these you do get the little bursts of fruity hops and it really starts to come alive.
I’m looking forward seeing where Brew 61 go with their bottled beers, mostly because this isn’t where I usually go to so it’s nice to expand my horizons further. As it stands Spring Meadow has set a good bar.
Occasionally when I do these reviews, I stumble across a beer which is award winning and I always get a little bit excited by the prospect. This beer won gold in the 2021 SIBA independent beer awards in the regional bottle/can session IPA category. Essentially a really high barometer for quality.
Like the previous beer there is little to no head on it but I’m pretty sure at this point it’s just how it’s intended to be. With it being a golden ale, there is a richer and darker look to this beer, but also still maintains how welcoming it looks.
The nose is playful with citrus notes and a really slight bitterness in the background which carries through. It has got the involuntary salivating happening as well, which for me is always a hallmark of expectation.
This is a beer where you can tell there is quality all the way through it. Immediately you get a big burst of citrus and freshness with an incredibly light mouthfeel. It then makes way for the bitterness that was there in the nose as it sits on the tastebud, not oppressively, but you can feel the hoppy notes just pulling up an armchair and making themselves comfortable.
This is a true session ale, everything about this leaves you wanting more and this would be perfect for a prolonged session where you want to treat yourself a little bit. Each drink is a treat and yet it is light enough that you’d have no issue drinking it for as long as required.
Obviously, I’m just a guy sat and not qualified for any such awards or anything, but I can understand why Greenfields Gold, earned its gold award. A lovely lovely beer.
There’s something quite wonderful about a Dark Ale as they pour, to the naked eye it seems deep and impenetrable, but if you get a torchlight through the back and a beautiful ruby delicacy is revealed which through the torch light shines like the most precious of jewels.
To the nose we get rich malty tones which is slightly under toned with a sweetness. I’m expecting a reasonably heavy sitting beer here, with a big molasses hit.
To quote Alan Partridge here.
“Very malty”
First things first, the drink itself is actually considerably lighter than I was originally expecting, the 4.0% probably being the basis of that. It’s at that point that bitterness really begins to attack the palate, almost to the point of being oppressive and at that point like magic it fades away leaving that sweet molasses, smooth slight chocolate end.
Just 18 months ago I’d have looked at this beer and dismissed it like a toddler saying “I don’t like it” but through this beer journey I have come to appreciate the nuances of stouts and darker beers in general and this is a really gorgeous one, which pushing the expectations right to the edge. I understand that this wouldn’t be for everyone, however if you give it a chance the layers of complexity start to reveal themselves at which point a generously flavoured complex beer reveals itself to you, albeit a challenging one.
A lovely light looking beer this one, which held and formed a head for a little bit before bubbling away. With a little bit of light behind it, it seems to look like a golden nectar which evokes memories of spring and honey.
To the nose we’ve got a fresh fruitiness with slight floral undertones as well, but it draws deeply from the hops as well and sucks the nose into the glass like a vacuum.
To taste, absolutely fantastic. First of all, I read the instructions and didn’t chill this one in the fridge, as such a lot of the flavour profile is available from the very first sip. The immediate bubbly carbonation hits the tongue and you get hits of fruits and lightly bitter hops in perfect harmony which remains with every mouthful. Despite its light visuals it actually tastes somewhat heavy with the robust complex flavours.
I harp on sometimes about what I truly love in a beer being balanced and Hop On has it in spades. There is normally a flavour profile that goes a little bit too far one way or the other especially when mixing the hoppy nature of an IPA with fruity undertones but this beer manages to get it just right, maintaining the complexity without losing itself to overpower.
This confused me a little bit off the bat, because there was a Grazing Girls earlier on in a can at 6%, but this is the bottled and weaker version. It will be interesting to see if the flavour notes hit the same.
Like the other light beers in Brew 61’s line up this looks bright to the eye with a head that fades away very quickly. The nose is really extenuating the fruity notes as advertised.
This doesn’t have the exact balance of the previous beer and falls a little short of the crisp and fruity and actually sits quite heavily on the palate. There is the initial burst of fruit and if you didn’t allow the beer to taste any other part of the mouth then I suppose it could be described as crisp.
If you allow the beer to explore the mouth then it becomes very hoppy and the balance falls out a little bit. With the lingering on the palate the hops do subside and does leave a nice fruity residue which is very pleasant, it’s just reaching through the imbalance at first to get there that is the challenge.
No fancy names here and on paper the beer for everyone. I always feel a little weird when I try and critique lager’s as they are generally more of a generic taste and it’s hard to get any real nuance out of it, so I’ll just do what I can here.
As with most of the Brew 61 beers, this hasn’t maintained a head at all, which is always a little bit perturbing when it comes to a lager. What I will say is that it does smell pretty good, a little big lighter and sweeter than a standard / premium generic lager so maybe there might be something a bit different here.
Ok this definitely isn’t a standard lager in the slightest. This as the nose hinted at is quite a lot sweeter than a normal lager, as well as having a bitter after taste. I’m trying to work out if I like this lager and I’m not sure that I do. I understand what it’s trying to do, in order to make it stand out from the crowd, but in doing so something isn’t sitting completely right with me and I think it’s the sweetness.
Because of the sweetness, there isn’t that moment of ahhhhh refreshment that you would associate with a lager, instead you spend most of the drink trying to place what is happening. It just isn’t for me this unfortunately.
When I was around 14 years old, I was round my friend Richard Pelling’s house and his mum got us a four pack of John Smith’s bitter. It was the first alcoholic drink I’d had, not the normal go to for a kid who normally has some sort of alcopop, but it was alcohol and it a safe environment, taking away the stigma of sneaking alcohol.
I didn’t like it, because you know I was 14 and it was bitter…the two don’t go hand in hand and since then I’ve never really been a fan of bitter. It’s like that time at university I had so much cranberry and malibu I projectile vomited something out of a horror movie. But I digress, I’ve just not been a fan of bitter since so we’ll give this a go.
On the visual aspect it does look incredibly appealing and the nose isn’t giving too much away either, however my inexperience with bitter, even knowing the hops (Fuggles and Bramling Cross) I’m not sure what to expect (other than Fuggles Beer Café in Tunbridge Wells being my favourite spot when I visit my brother).
This is actually quite nice and not just “for a bitter”. Firstly, it hits your mouth really cool (best served chilled) as such it allows the bitterness to approach the palate slowly as it works through the chilled nature. Then as it makes itself more aware to the drinker it tastes more in line with a really hoppy ale and doesn’t sit unpleasantly at all.
There is nuance to the flavours and there’s a real zing and party in the mouth as opposed to a bombastic cannon shot of bitter abuse. Considering I wasn’t expecting an awful lot I’m really enjoying this bitter and whilst I may not remember its name in a few months, it is a lovely and strangely refreshing drink which I would recommend.
Final Thoughts:
Beer 61 is a lovely little brewery, with a very distinct hop palate which both helps and hinders the delivery of their beer. On the whole the beers were really tasty and enjoyable, a few notable highlights being the Greenfields Gold and Hazy Bale Ale.
Their customer service at the beginning was exemplary as discussed before, but it left such a positive impression on me it would be remiss of me to not mention it again. The beers themselves aren’t typically what I would go for but there were far more hits from the brewery than misses.
For the right person, this brewery would be unequivocally superb as there is the common theme running through them, so if those notes were hit it would be a sensational find for the right person. For me, it was a really good brewery, but didn’t have enough to tip me over to be wowed.
Next County: Norfolk
Next Brewery: Winters Brewery
