Author Archives: Rob Nesbit

About Rob Nesbit

Beer drinker and all round annoyance. Likes drinking, football, cricket and having a good time.

Red Horse Beer

Red Horse Beer

Red Horse 

www.sanmiguelbrewery.com

Brewed by San Miguel Brewery
Style: Strong Pale Lager
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Red Horse BeerRed Horse Beer is an extra-strong lager brewed by the San Miguel Brewery from Manila in the Philippines. 

San Miguel beer was first produced by La Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel, a small brewery in the Philippines, which began its activity in 1890. In 1963 the brewery was renamed San Miguel Corporation to today where it is Southeast Asia’s largest publicly listed food, beverage and packaging company with over 18,000 employees in over 100 major facilities throughout the Asia-Pacific. It is also among the fastest growing conglomerates in the world with key investments and new business ventures in fuel and oil, aviation, energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, mining, properties and banking.

San Miguel is the undisputed leader in its home market Philippines, with over a 90% market share domestically for beer. The brewing division operate six breweries in the Philippines and plants in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. San Miguel is also exported to over 60 countries worldwide and they produce a wide variety of beers, from the usual glut of lagers to fruit flavoured beers, to the non alcoholic beer varieties, to standardized soft drink fruit and cola beverages. 

Red Horse BeerNow I am sure you are thinking you drank plenty of San Miguel on a beach in sunny Spain. Yes there is a relationship between this brand and the one in Espana. 
As part of its overseas expansion, San Miguel began its foray into the Spanish market in 1953, setting up the company which would later become San Miguel Spain. In the early 1950s, Enrique Suárez Rezona, Ramón Vidal and Jaime Muñiz from the medicinal company, La Segarra, made contact with Andrés Soriano, then president of San Miguel Brewery, to allow them to produce beer under the San Miguel name in Spain. In 1953, San Miguel Brewery, Inc. signed the “Manila Agreement”, with the Philippine brewer setting up a new Spanish brewery, La Segarra, S.A.. The company would later be renamed San Miguel Fábricas de Cerveza y Malta, S.A. in 1957, an affiliate of San Miguel Brewery, Inc. which initially held 20% equity share via its Hong Kong subsidiary.
The company was acquired by Mahou, S.A. from Groupe Danone in 2000, combining to form Spain’s largest brewer, the Mahou-San Miguel Group. On 26 February 2014, San Miguel and Mahou-San Miguel signed a co-operation agreement to promote jointly San Miguel Beer and expand its global footprint. All a little confusing, just better to think of them as two competitive brothers fighting on the same team, the global club of beer drinkers.

Review: 330ml bottle of Red Horse Beer: 8.0% vol.

First brew from the Philippines, lets see how it goes. Comes in a nice bottle with the logo of a red horse, bit of a retro look to it. 

Red Horse is San Miguel’s high alcohol beer brand. Introduced in 1982, its extremely popular in the Philippines, can be found in cans and bottles, and pretty much about everywhere and anywhere in the country, on tap and can even be served in buckets!

The alcohol by volume differs depending on region, with the export version for international drinkers coming out at a high 8%, while it is 6.9%. for the home market. Either way its marketed as “Extra Strong”

On pour it is flat, no carbonation resulting in no head and a golden colour, a very flat terrible looking effort here on the eye……

Getting a hoppy smell on the nose, its not strong and pretty faint overall, but its there. Getting the earthy hops and the sweet fresh grains….

Onto the taste, first impressions are good, tastes not too bad. Has a bit of a tangy taste with the hops and there is some character there alright.

Hoppy and with dark fruits detected in the initial few mouthfuls. Also getting a sweet corn flavour coming out too. Full bodied. Barley malts, hops, sweet. 

Has some interesting flavours and a unique taste but cant say it is winning me over. Doesn’t overly excite, but for an Asian beer its a very good effort. 

Not much from the bottle which is always annoying, not much at all.

Might be a nice beer to sip at a bar on a beach in the Philippines, like all these exotic beers tend to be. Not bad really, not sure what I think of it to be honest, it was ok I guess. Not something I would buy again in a hurry as it wasn’t as smooth as it should be, that with the high alcohol content, but as I said, for an Asian beer and half way around the world, it isn’t too bad.

It is a cheap beer from Asia that has some flavours and a taste to it, is not overly offensive and for that alone it is impressive. Might try again…..

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Five Lamps Lager

Five Lamps Lager

Five Lamps Lager

https://www.facebook.com/5LampsDublinBrewery

Brewed by The 5 Lamps Dublin Brewery
Style: Czech style pilsner/Lager
Camden St, Dublin, Ireland

Five Lamps LagerEstablished in 2012, The 5 lamps Brewery is the brainchild of Brian Fagan along with William Harvey, the master brewer and a former Guinness Brewer with over 27 years of experience in the beer industry. 

The name “Five Lamps” comes from where they originated, the North Strand. Five beautiful street lamps at the junction of 5 different streets, dating back to the 19th century. Now they operate out of Camden Street on the south side of the city, running the brewery, a bar and a visitors centre where they offer tours of the site, beer tasting sessions, and also “champion the character of the city” of Dublin. Expect to learn some “Dublinese” and know more about the history of Dublin City when visiting! 

Their first beer is The 5 Lamps Dublin Lager, launched in September 2012, a traditional Czech style pilsner, and now sell nationwide. In addition to this lager, they now have started a 5 Lamps Red Ale and 5 Lamps Light Lager.

Review: 500ml bottle of Five Lamps Lager: 4.2% vol.

In Bottles, cans and on tap in Dublin. Actually had it on tap in Dublin twice before and thoroughly enjoyed it, was lovely and crisp so I have high hopes for this one. 

On the bottle you can be under no doubt where this beer is from, as they tell you “This is the beer of Dublin”, ok so!

Five Lamps LagerA nice black bottle all the same, with the iconic 5 lamps imagery of Victorian Dublin. Lovely. 

Onto the appearance, doesn’t look great at all, bit crap in fact. Clear golden colour with a small white head. Not a looker.

On the nose getting a real lagery aroma, faint but lager smells on the nose. Pale malt and grain. 

Taste is not bad at all, nice creamy mouthfuls, typical lagery flavouring, malts and grains to the fore. Nice malty flavour with a distinct pilsner hop taste that is soft and inoffensive.  

Overall, a bloody good lager, light and easy drinking, relaxing and went down well, it is what it is. Not the greatest out there but for an Irish lager its bloody good. Tasty. 

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St. Peters Cream Stout

St. Peters Cream Stout

St. Peters 

www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/

Brewed by St. Peter’s Brewery 
Style: Milk Stout
Bungay, England

St. Peter’s Brewery founded, in 1996, by entrepreneur and branding expert John Murphy, who saw a gap in the market for a modern-day craft artisanal brewery set in the beautiful English countryside.

St. Peters Cream StoutThe area he choose for his enterprise was to be in the village of St. Peter South Elmham, near Bungay, in former traditional agricultural buildings alongside the moated St. Peter’s Hall, deep in the picturesque Suffolk countryside, East Anglia, on the east coast of England. The location is ideal for its excellent water quality used in the brewing process – all beers brewed at St. Peter’s Brewery use water filtered through chalk deep beneath the brewery, obtained from their own deep bore-hole.

Alongside the brewery, St. Peter’s Hall is a historic venue with a bar and restaurant, and is available for functions, weddings, events, meetings and conferences.
The brewery also owns a London pub called The Jerusalem Tavern – a compact beer-lovers hostelry with a historic style, housed in a building dating from the eighteenth century.

St. Peters Cream StoutOther than their range of ‘traditional’ ales, such as Best Bitter and Gatekeeper Golden Ale, St Peters also produce some more unusual beers, such as Honey Porter, Plum Porter and Citrus Beer that replicate traditional pre-nineteenth century practice of adding honey and fruit to create special seasonal brews. Also most recent developments are contemporary session ales such as Stateside Pale Ale, Revival Pilsner and White Raven. And of course for the non alcoholic drinker they created a range of true 0.0% alcohol free beers. St Peter’s Brewery beers are thriving both at home and further afield, exporting to more than 20 countries around the world.

The famous logo of the black bird and the key can be explained with history. The bird is infact a raven and is a symbol of the Vikings, marauders of the North Sea. St Peters Hall has a moat which was most likely used to defend itself from these attackers from the east. The bird is inside a barrel, which of course depicts the brewing tradition and the key represents the keys of Saint Peter – the keys of heaven, clever eh?

Review: 500ml bottle of St. Peters Cream Stout: 6.5% vol.

Coming in a really lovely oval bottle, looks vintage and has an authentic old feel to it, looks like its a hard liquor bottle. Logo of a black crow and a key, what does it all mean? Very interesting. (explained above!)

On the pour I am getting a pitch black colour, as you would expect from a stout, and a nice enough creamy tan head appearing. The head looks like caramel. Solid look overall. 

A lot of lacing is present, intermittent and not in rings. 

St. Peters Cream StoutGetting a real porter smell on the nose, but its very faintish and not much to smell at all. Smoky and peaty, roasted malts, milk chocolate all noted but light, very light. On their site they called it an aromatic beer, but hell I didn’t detect a whole lot. Disappointing start. 

Onto the taste then and sure enough like all English ales types and strong bitters it is bloody strong, very strong. Getting a typical porter taste, very strong dark coffee flavours, roasted malts, a touch of vanilla and a creamy chocolate taste on the tongue. Yeah very strong with the coffee, especially in the after taste.  

Found it awful to drink, not nice, very deep tasting and overly bitter, the hops to the extreme. Not enjoyable at all, urgh.

Very coffee centric, not well balanced at all. Coffee, coffee, coffee, basically. Yuck, again!

A tough one to drink, wasn’t smooth or very drinkable  but heh I will get hate for this, but I don’t have the English stomach for their bitters and “stouts”. I am Irish with a softer palate, so they can suck it up all they like, ha ha.

Someone online mentioned this as “a precursor of a Black IPA”, I would have to say that’s actually a good call. It feels and tastes like that to me. 

Horrible. End of…

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Robinsons Old Tom Ginger

Robinsons Old Tom Ginger

Old Tom 

www.robinsonsbrewery.com

Brewed by Robinsons Family Brewery
Style: Strong Ale
Stockport, England

Robinsons Old Tom GingerBased in the heart of Stockport for over 181-years, owning a collection of around 260 pubs, inns and hotels across the North West of England and North Wales

From the first ale brewed in The Unicorn Pub in Stockport, Cheshire in 1849, Robinson’s has been an independent family-run brewer all the way through to today, in its sixth-generation, the where it is regarded as one of the most respected names in British brewing and innkeeping, particularly famous throughout the UK for their tasty ales. 

Review: 330ml bottle of Robinsons Old Tom Ginger: 6.0% vol.

Robinsons Old Tom GingerComing in a very cool looking black bottle with a very nice logo of a ginger cat. Very easy to buy with that lovely presentation. 

From the pour I get a dark deep ruby red looking brew, with not much of a head appearing at all. Looks a bit shitty to be honest. Head goes flat very, very fast. Small to no head is the result…… 

The smell is light, very light on the nose. Of course I get the ginger, and some fruit and malts but its very faint which is quite surprising for a beer with ginger in it…….. 

So obviously the taste is ginger, no surprise there then. Now I actually hate ginger, but don’t ask me why I bought this in the beer shop. I think I was mesmerized by the cat picture on the bottle and just put it into the basket, ha. But the thing is this isn’t actually too bad at all. The ginger is very well balanced with the malts and the caramel, so its not overbearing at all, thank God for that!

Robinsons Old Tom GingerKind of like a strong cola with ginger. It is very interesting drink and has a deep tasting English ale style to it. A vodka and coke with a touch of ginger. I like it. I even shock myself in saying that!

The alcohol is very well hidden. Perfect for the slow drinker, nice to sip and relax with. Ginger, malts and sweet cola, moderately bitter and a little fruity too (pears), all very well balanced.

Yeah, coke with ginger, but it works, very easy to drink and recommended. I liked it, but the only negative here is that the bottles were far too small as I wanted more.

I am not sure that the fact I liked this beer as someone who hates ginger, is good or bad. Good that it appeals to me, but bad in that perhaps a real ginger fan might not think there was enough ginger in it, oh I don’t know, ha!… 

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Kitchen Brew

Kitchen Brew

Kitchen Brew

www.kitchenbrew.ch/

Brewed by Kitchen Brew 
Style: Helles/Lager
Allschwil, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland

Swiss craft beers coming out of the small town of Allschwil, north Switzerland.

North American craft beer scene implanted in Switzerland, that is what Kitchen Brew are all about. Fabian Ehinger, brewer and founder of Kitchen Brew, inspired by the craft beer revolution in the USA, drinking imports from the States made his mind wander……what if!

Finally, in spring 2012, Fabian moved to North America. On a six-month trip across the USA, he was inspired by what he had seen, from small home brewing startups based in kitchens to mega bars with 100 plus taps on the go, Fabian took it all in……. and not all industrial beers too, he discovered a wide variety of specialties of all beer types imaginable . 

As a barman and manager of a small bar in Basel, North Switzerland, Fabian could get a birds eye view of the US craft beer imports and see what made them click with consumers. He started to create a few of his own beers with highly aromatic hops and made with innovative brewing techniques such as dry hopping. He worked from an empty kitchen hence the name of the brewery……Kitchen Brew! His customers were kind of like his guinea pigs, testing his new beers and seeing if North American craft beer trends could catch on in this part of the world. 

After guest brewing for local breweries, in and around the Basel region, Fabian finally got to open, with the support of Peter Oppliger, his new factory and event hall in the small suburb of Allschwil, near Basel, in November 2016, becoming one of the youngest microbreweries in Switzerland.

Kitchen BrewIn 2013, a Cascade Amber Ale was their first real foray onto the scene. The initial beer got off to a great start, proving very popular amongst the great Swiss drinking public, and also going on to win numerous awards for its taste and quality. After that came other beers, Kölsch style brews, wheat beers with Belgian yeasts, the usual IPA’s that the connoisseurs oh so love, a variety of beers but all well balanced and pleasant to drink. 

The brewery enriches the locals palate for good regional and Swiss beer varieties while at the same time offering brews from all around the world, exciting beer styles from a wide section of beer cultures, available at affordable prices for the Basel (and Basel land) natives to enjoy.

My second tryout of their products, having had their Everyday Pale Ale which I thoroughly enjoyed, finding it very smooth and crisp with nice big creamy mouthfuls, a beer I will be returning to in the future…..  

Review: 44cl small can of Kitchen Brew Lager: 4.8% vol.

Comes in cans and on tap in and around the Basel region. 

Love the look of the can, hops and soft greenish colouring, catches my eye in the beer shop. Simple lettering for the ordinary punter too, stating name and that its a lager, that’s all you need, nothing pretentious or too fancy here. 

Looks great on pour, a very nice decent sized frothy head on pour, yellow/light golden colour, looks very appetizing, a good looking brew. 

Kitchen BrewLiking the aroma, very nice and pleasant on the nose. Getting the hops, faint but there to sniff about.

Coming cold from the fridge, the beer is well tasty, nice and crisp. The hops are alive, mild and soft enough to enjoy and with enough flavour to notice their refreshing taste. Full bodied and well balanced.

Very nice, hoppy but light in the taste, very drinkable and a good clean taste. This is a well made beer that is very easy to drink and enjoy. Fruit flavour with Citra and Callista hops very much to the fore.

I don’t feel like its a lager but more a light IPA, as the tastes and hops are much more pronounced than your average lager swill. 

The alcohol is well hidden, but still has a little kick to it which gives it a slight edge.

I liked this a lot , very tasty and very smooth. Strongly recommended and a new favourite go to beer. Thank God they sell it in the local supermarket!

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