Bunker Summit no. 2

Bunker Summit Two was again a fine event. As well as myself and Ed, Glenn was on hand to voice his tasting judgements in a blind tasting session. We all bought four ales to try.

Home cooked food was once more provided by the master skills of Commandant Ed. This time a legendary Fuller's Porter steak and ale stew (Recipe here!) with garden vegetables provided the perfect interim energy boost.

The evening kicked off with an auspicious curtain raiser - a review session of Brewdog's AB:04, which isn't released until later this week, but was kindly sent to us for pre-launch review. You can read the full review on this site.

We then moved on to the main tasting event. The scores we gave were completely blind and are averaged below - we had no idea what the product was until the reveal.

Bright (Otter) 4.3%ABV - Summery blond with a tiny ping of spice, a bit uninteresting. (4)

Old Henry (Hobson's) 5.2% - Fireside amber, complex and peachy (7)

First Gold (Hopcloser) 4.6% - Ed's homebrew! (Full details of how that was made here) Rated very highly, sweet and tasty in the US style (7)

Banks's Bitter (Marstons) 3.8% - Short and malty, no finish, a bit budget (4)

Entire Stout (Hopback) 4.5% - Creamy but light stout. Refreshing for a black drink (6)

American IPA (Adnams) 6.8% - Very nice (Ed loves it) extremely citrussy, some tea and depth. Took the evening's Bronze Medal (8)

Organic Old Ruby Ale (Dutchy Originals) 5% - Inoffensive, probably nice with lamb (6)

Humpty's Fuddle (Kingstone) 5.8% - Floral and malty, not much hop for an IPA (7)

ESB (Fuller's) 5.9% - Delicious and the evening's Silver Medal Drink. Perfect balance (8)

Betty Stogs (Skinners) 4% - A bit unbalanced but some nice flavours (7)

Ipswich Pale Ale (St Judes) 4% - Bloody awful, "sewage in a bottle". We can only hope this one was off for the brewery's sake - our first (0)

London Porter (Fullers) 5.4% - Delicious and superbly balanced, a textbook fine porter. The evening's Gold Medal Drink (9)

Poacher's Choice (Badger) 5.7% - Loads of gamey flavours but polarised opinion, a marmite-reaction drink (4)

Vienna broadcast the goodnight national anthem very shortly after this one. Much fun.

Gold Medal - Fuller's Porter
Silver - Fuller's ESB
Bronze - Adnams American Style IPA

- The Broadside

Summer Lightning (Hopback)

As Ale Gods go this is certainly one of them. Real ale fans the length of the country know all about this beer, it’s a legend, like something out of Greek mythology, something sent to earth to redefined ale. Its has four CAMRA’s Gold medals to its name, testament to its quality on draught and in bottles.

It’s a golden ale, and it shines bright like the precious metal itself, beautifully clear, with a gentle fizz released on pouring. It has a beautiful oily smell of fresh hops that lingers over the surface.

Hops. Hops, hops, hops. Yep this is a hoppy beer, they burst through at start overwhelming the malt and leaving all but a gentle sweetness. The finish is like you have never tasted before, a combination of gentle zesty notes combined with a kick like a shire horse wearing hop covered hooves.

When best enjoyed : Basking in the sunshine, or when you need a beer to waken you up and slap you round the face.

8/10 This truly is the God of Golden Ales and Hops, but lacks a bit of balance to earn top marks for me. If you like hops, you will be in heaven.

Kindly provided by my friends up the road at the Hopback Brewery you can buy their ales here