Tears for Beers

Otters-Tears-Icon-360pxHi there and welcome, Tears For Beers is our new bulletin focussing on all that’s new and exciting here at Otter’s Tears.

Why “Tears for Beers” I hear you collectively cry, what is there to get so upset about?

Could it be because you’ll cry with happiness every time you visit us and see our wonderful selection, or maybe it’s simply a platform that allows Phil to “Shout, Shout, Let It All Out“….. Either way you can thank my good friend Chris for the inspiring title.. 😉

I’ll still be posting regular updates on new beers and such on Facebook, Twitter etc. But thought it would be a good idea to have one place where they are listed for ease of access, as well as being a reference point for everything, including events, blog posts and info shares on other things of interest. For the moment it is mainly a brief list of some of the newer arrivals at the shop, plus a few bits and bobs. The content will in time though get better and hopefully more informative/interesting. Let me know what you think, things you’d like to see featured and such.

If you want to be given a little email reminder as and when I post stuff, please sign up to the Mailchimp account, it’s free and I promise not to constantly spam you with updates. In return you will get first sight of new, rare beers, exclusive access to event tickets, plus other such titbits whenever possible. Simply enter your email address and submit in the SIGN UP section to the right of this post, or at the bottom right of the contact page.

Anyway, for now, here’s a few of the beers we had in recently with descriptions from the breweries concerned, loads more have arrived since writing this, so best pay us a visit to get the full picture until I get fully up to speed.

Brussels Beer Project – Tante Tatin Apple Quadrupel – “A beautiful apple pie of a beer,  with some great caramel notes coming for the malt, it’s a true delight”

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Brussels Beer Project – La Shaman – Brussels Beer Project & Austmann Braggery joined forces on this Aztec project brewed both in Belgium & Norway “La Shaman will enchant you with her chocolate charms before bewitching you with her smoky heat!”

Oedipus – Mannenliefde – “Oedipus Mannenliefde was our first beer. A fresh Saison that aims to free beer from stereotypes and preconceptions with its hints of lemon grass, Szechuan pepper and fruity Sorachi Ace hops.”

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Oedipus – Gaia – “A West Coast IPA brimming with refreshing hoppy and fruity flavours, Gaia wondrously combines earthly fertility with cosmic inspiration.”

Primordial Soup Anyone?

“We at Oersoep (“primordial soup” in Dutch) love to brew layered and complex beers. We find our flavours in the old European beer-tradition as well as in the experiment. From our soup of malt, hops, and water we always try to make an exciting new beer. We pay much attention to beer and food pairings. We want you to share our large 75cl bottle with friends and family and have an unforgettable evening! We carefully select our ingredients and brew with local and organic products when available. Our little brewery is located in Nijmegen. We change our beers a lot depending on the season and our experimental nature. In order to introduce some order into the chaos we file all of our beers in one of our four lines: Dark and Deep, Saison, Bubbly and Blond, God is Good.”

Oersoep – Wild At Heart  “A soft sultry interpretation of a Flemish Red . A scent of cherries , strawberries and farm life . A fine sour taste of cherries , wine, red fruits and vanilla from the wood. Light tannin by ageing in an oak barrel.

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Oersoep & Oedipus – OeOe – “Œœ is a collaboration between primordial and Oedipus. “A Saison brewed with hibiscus flowers and rose petals, funky and fruity. Get yourself this bromance in a bottle”image

Blaugies & Hill Farmstead – La Vermontoise – “A spelt saison brewed with Amarillo hops. Very Limited..

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“Caldera – Mogli” – This is a chocolate and bourbon, oak-aged Imperial Porter. Mogli was inspired by the loss of a dear friend”

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imageRogue – Sriracha Hot Stout Beer – “A stout made with Huy Fong original hot chilli sauce and sun ripened Rogue Farms ingredients.”

Rogue – 7 Hop IPA – “This is John Maier’s secret recipe that blends all seven hops grown in the hop yard of Rogue Farms. It is a true taste of the terroir of the Wigrich Appellation, the oldest hops growing region in Oregon”

Rogue – 8 Hop IPA – “The boss of the hop family, this IPA brings brash and burly flavours. Crafted with all 8 varieties of hops grown at Rogue Farms in Independence, Ore”

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GIRARDIN Gueuze 1882 (Black label) – “From Brouwerij Girardin is a lambic of exceptional excellence, the epitome of traditional gueule, bombarding the palate with slightly lemon-grapefruit tang”

GIRARDIN Gueuze 1882 (White label) – “Is a tank fermented, filtered, and pasteurised version of its counterpart Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black label). Easier on the palate for those less accustomed to Lambic and Gueuze style beers.

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Weird Beard – Five O’Clock Shadow IPA – “Rough day at work? Crack open a Five O’clock Shadow and be at one with your stubble. This American IPA is the real Desperate Dan of the beer world, hoppy uncompromising and goes well with a cow pie.”

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Weird Beard/Farmageddon Brewing Co-op – Suspect Device DIPA – “We all know that the best way to showcase some new hops is to put a f*cktonne of them into a double IPA. Simple malt bill, some Mosaic and Amarillo kettle hops then a big dry hop with two experimental hop varieties, one called Wolf, the other as yet unnamed but going under the codename of Farmageddon. What you get is an 8.3% beer bursting with interesting and not 100% familiar, fruity, juicy hop character.”

UPRIGHT BREWING

“Upright produces four year round “numbered” beers, all of which incorporate select malts, Oregon grown hops, and a blend of two saison yeasts perfectly suited to our open fermentation vessels. They are available in both draft and bottle conditioned form. These beers are named after their starting gravity (density, or pre-fermentation sugar content) in Belgian brewing degrees. This method is a nod to the days when breweries solely distributed to their respective neighbourhoods with nothing but a number on the cap to distinguish the beers – a time before the overly branded products of today.

We hope that you appreciate the absence of gimmicks at Upright and enjoy the beers in the same sincere fashion that they are made.”

Upright Brewing – FOUR – “Four is a table saison embodying the spirit of country style French ales with light floral tones and a dry, tart finish.”

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Upright Brewing – SIX – “Six is a dark rye saison with layered malts, pleasant stone and mineral notes, and a dry finish.”

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Upright Brewing – SEVEN – “Seven is a modern saison expressing a ripe and aromatic range from farm to greenhouse, finishing dry.”

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In other news, we still have a little of Cloudwater’s wonderful DIPA v3 left on the shelves, copious over ordering, or careful stock management, who knows, but you definitely need some either way. 🙂

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So, that’s it for now, plenty more to tell you but as fast as I write this more delicious beer arrives. Thanks for reading, don’t forget to follow, share and most importantly, to pay us a visit soon.

Cheers

Phil