Beer Of The Month - November 2008

The best beer I drank in November was actually Alehouse Robust Porter, a wonderfully rich, hoppy, very American influenced porter. However I've drank the beer before and as this column only deals with new beers to me, it doesn't qualify. It's an excellent beer though; one you should certainly seek out.

I drank the porter at a Hertfordshire beer festival in The Malt Shovel, at which I also enjoyed Buntingford Witch Project, a dark roasty, fruity bitter with coffee notes; Alehouse 99 And A Half Won't do, a headbanging 10% booze filled beer, and Red Squirrel Springfield IPA.

This is truly a great beer full of piney bitter American hops. So full in the mouth, and beautifully balanced. The other two people who have rated this beer on RateBeer gave it great marks too. It is a clear Beer Of The Month winner.

The month of course featured the Wetherspoons Beer Festival, which didn't get close to the high standards set earlier in the year, but one beer did stand out for me, and, I know, for others; although not everybody agreed with me that it was a great beer. Viking's Return was brewed by Mikkel of Mikkeller at Jennings and was both extremely bitter and very burnt at the same time. It was very complex and no doubt challenging. It was liked enough by Wetherspoons customers to place it second in the Beer Of The Festival voting.

I didn't drink many bottled beers during November, but the one I did really enjoy was BrewDog Chaos Theory. This beer won the prototype challenge, where it was up against a wheat beer and a schwarzbier. It is a typically bold IPA, coming in at 7.1%. I think this is the style of beer BrewDog does best, and this is just about the right ABV for this style.

December should be an interesting month. I always like to drink a few special beers around the Christmas break so the competition will be hot for the next Beer Of The Month.