Tyler's Beer Journal

Much better than the mango NEIPA we had back in March! Light and pleasant

A collab between Honest Burgers and South London brewery Orbit, the Vienna Lager was a big surprise to me. I'm used to Honest's "Burger Beer" (made by Brighton's Laine Brew Co.), which does what it says on the tin, but the bite of the Vienna Lager stands way out from the crowd. I'd go back just for the beer.

Another in a long line of, I'm sorry to say it, boring IPAs.

This was one of those where you pick it up at lunchtime because it's hot out and the label is fun, but I do have to commend them on a very smooth pale ale. I must have drank it in a hurry because now that I write this I don't remember much else besides that: smooth.

Another juicy IPA. So far, Siren hasn't thrilled me, but I didn't hate it, so 🤷‍♀️

It markets itself as a "Fruit Smoothie" beer, and while I was skeptical I think it actually hit the mark. Smooth, fruity, and… this will sound gross when I say it, but it's not: actually kind of thick? It feels like a beer smoothie.

Got this on a whim during a visit to San Luis Obispo (where it's brewed), and was pleasantly surprised! It had the same citrus-first experience as something like a Radler, with the smoothness and body of a good hazy IPA.

You know, if you've got to do a train beer, you could do a lot worse than this and pay a lot more. £4 for a 440ml can, 4% ABV, and decently tasty. I'd recommend just bringing your own beer if you can, but this makes a good holdover if you can't.

That's a no from me, dawg! Emphasis on sour, felt like it actively did not want to be drunk.

The Alphonso is a Mango NEIPA, which comes in a textured 440ml can. At 5.8ABV I expected it to be a great addition to a KFC dinner, but unfortunately it got worse as it went on. For the first time, the can was too big. In a smaller can, a shorter time between starting and finishing the drink, I might have liked it more. It starts well, but just doesn't last.

I'm struggling to find anything unique here. It's a cheap, reliable session IPA that tastes wholly the same as every other session IPA you've ever had. But maybe that's the point? It's not "high voltage" after all—maybe this a mold they're not trying to break.

I think this means I've tried all of the Camden beers so far? Like usual, this one is very nice, a little fruity, and makes for a perfectly suitable after-dinner beer. But at the same time, it's nothing mind-blowing. Just nice, and worth the low price of entry.

This is uh… a weird one! I really like marmite, and this beer tastes almost nothing like it. It's darker than most things Camden makes, and carries just enough sweetness to be unlike marmite in almost every way. In fact, once I covered the label and forgot that it was supposed to taste like marmite, I liked it better.

I'll be honest, the art was what got me to buy this -- I've been playing a lot of Sable lately and the Moebius-style art is on my mind a lot as a result. But the beer turned out to be good, as well! It's a "hazy" IPA, and while I'm still not sure what that means, it had a much fuller and fruitier feel than most IPAs, so I liked it a lot.

I was curious about Hiver's focus on bees (you can go to the "Hiver Bee & Beer Experience" they host to learn about bee-keeping), and was surprised by how much honey you can actually taste in the IPA. It's smoother than most IPAs I've had, while staying refreshingly light. Highly recommended.

Holy shit it's a liquid Tootsie Roll

I had previously expressed my disappointment with Jubel's grapefruit beer a while back, and this is clearly the superior version. Just enough peach to feel fruity, just light enough to go well with a meal. Really enjoyed it.

It's been a bit since I've had a stout that wasn't a Guinness! Milk stouts are always a little too sweet for me, but the caramel note here really scratches the dessert itch.

The can says "taste: mango/citrus", but I think they may have gone to the LaCroix school of flavoring. It tastes like an IPA that sat next to a mango.

A gluten-free pale ale! Fun yellow can, much better flavor than I expected. Super fruity, enjoyable drink, with only a hint of the aftertaste that comes with gluten-free beers (the one that feels like you've got fake wheat in your mouth). Great lunchtime beer.

Labeled a "California IPA". I already squint pretty hard at "American-style" beers, so I was even more sceptical of a supposedly-Californian beer (that I, a Californian by birth, had never heard of) on the shelves in west London. That said, I did enjoy its fruitiness (bits of berry and citrus), though my partner didn't like it.

I almost hesitate to put this on here except for historical purposes. Hells is one of the standards in my part of London, and is my default go-to if I don't feel like having Guinness or something new. It's not life-changing, but on days where I just want a simple beer it really doesn't have to be.

It's a 4% session lager so it makes a good lunch beer, but if I'm being honest I'd rather have a Radler.

Mango pale ale - my first mango-infused beer (though I've heard weirdly good things about the Mango Bud Light from my American friends). My partner really liked it, I thought it was just OK. Fun can design.

I honestly didn't realize it was Sainsbury's store brand until after I'd got home with it, which maybe makes me their target market. I can't imagine anyone buys this on purpose. It's like if you tried explaining beer to a space alien, and they mass produced a mediocre version of it.

A juicy lager, sold in 4-packs of cans. This is very much a "buy for cheap and drink in a park" sort of beer -- enjoyable, but not something I'd order at a pub.

American-style hazy IPA in a tall boy can. Light and "drinkable" (ooo, buzzword), but nothing to write home about.

Surrey-grown "Fuggles" hops (had to look that up). It may be the label influencing this, but it tasted distinctly "farm-y", like the liquid equivalent of a hard day's work.