Hungarian beer showdown (pt II)

Hugarian beer part two.

Arany Aszock 4.5%   -  219 huf/ 70p
Very much like wife beater (stella artois) on the nose, and quite like that in the mouth, but heaps more drinkable, not being as fizzy, and having more malt flavour.

Dreher  5.2%  -  179 huf/60p
More hoppy than Arany Aszock on the nose, but really quite flat and dull in the mouth.

Steffl 4.5%  -  215 huf / 70p
A bit of eggy, stella on the nose. not good. Tastes a bit like stella, and a bit eggy. Not a world beater. 

Kobanyai 4.5% - 185 huf / 60p
Smells a bit like carling. tastes a bit like carling.

So, what have we learnt? Well, our lovely tour guide Anna told us today that if in Hungary, you want beer, you go to the Czech rep, or germany, or any other nearby place. Seems they acknolwledge that they don't do it as well as their neighbours.

The wine? We had an ok bottle of dry tokaji in the hotel, and 2 spectacularly bad ones from tescos (admittedly paying no more than around £3 each for them). A red pinot noir, with more residual sugar than you could shake a stick at. The girl couln't even grit her teeth long enough to finish the glass. Secondly a white, that just tasted like shit. Not good in any way either . The winner so far in the wine dept is a bottle of fizz; hungaria extra brut, that could just about stand toe to toe with a uk supermarket's especially bad cava. More work and research required here, clearly.

Happy new year everyone. Cleggton and the YL.

Hungarian beer showdown

We are in Budapest, a quick trip to Tescos provided these treats.   To save you tears in the hotel room, tonight I will be reviewing 4 sub £1 cans of beers. 

Ottakringer spezial - 219 huf / 70p 4.9%   500ml

The Dewsbury lass is a legend when it comes to tasting beers, she thinks this smells like like Kronenberg, the red can (french stuff).  It is a little hoppy on the nose, yet a little sweet, it smells like a brewery.  It carries the sweetness and hoppiness through on the palate, not too fizzy, an eating beer. 

The verdict:  Bad yellow tin/ Good beer

Kozel svelty - 149 huf / 50p  4.0%    500ml

Smells like farts and washing up liquid, completely tasteless with the exception of a little hoppy length.  Think Hungarian Bier des Flandres, maybe purchased from the John F. in Dewsbury.

Verdict:  Good can, nice goat, but nothing to like, nothing to dislike.  Maybe a bit stale tasting?

Schlossmuhle  -  108 huf / 30p   3.0%    500ml

This can of beer cost less than the same volume of Tescos own brand beans.  Result.
It smells of nowt, and tastes of very little.  Breakfast beer if ever there was one.  Not a bad thing, very refreshing.  You can taste the bubbles more than the beer.  A lot like fosters ice, but there I am showing my age.

Verdict:  Not really tasting of beer but pretty refreshing

Borsodi  -  169 huf / 55p   4.6%    500ml

Popular on draft in the Hungarian pubs.  Smells a little sherberty.  Sadly, an overly foamy head, sweet on the palate, a hint of maltyness, no real hoppy length, making it less refreshing.  This is getting towards the budvar space.

Verdict:  Should do better really, on the surface it seems more well bred.  In reality a little uninspiring

Overall winner here? The yorkshire lass likes the Ottakringer, as it reminds her of home. As for me, the Schlossmuhle really has a place in the world. So there you have it, Hungarian beer tasting, done. Will report on the wines if we get round to it.

A Happy accident, Saint Claire Pinot Noir

Sometimes in a mad rush of blood to the head I will go round one of my favourite wine retailers, find something exciting, maybe I had read a recent good review of a maker or a certain wine, and spend a lot more than I usually would on wine.  These bottles usually kick around the wine rack until I can find a "special occasion" to drink them on, by which point I have usually forgotten why I bought them in the first place.

Last night I was fishing for something different to drink out of the rack. I picked out the below, I remembered it was a little more than I would usually spend, but didn't recall it was quite this much more than I would usually spend, especially for weekday drinking.  Never mind, it was lovely and a treat on a week night.

Name                Saint Clair Pioneer Block Pinot Noir
Vintage              2009
Country              New Zealand
Region               Marlborough
Grape                Pinot Noir
Maker                Matt Thomson, Saint Clair
% Alc                13.5%
Price                  £17.50
Source               Majestic


This Pinot is absolutely lovely, really fruity, cherries and redcurrants,, with good herbal (but not farmyardy, like the french) maybe bramble leaves hints.  I am not going to go into detail, as to be honest I wasn't fully paying attention.

But I did love drinking this wine, it was so moreish, we could have drunk another bottle or two, which is saying something, usually one bottle of any wine is enough, and I am ready for something different.  This wine lingered tantalisingly after the, sadly, last mouthful seemingly to tease me that there was no more left.

Beautiful wine, will go on my "wine for special occasions list".  Writing about it has made me thirsty for more.

The Squids fist

Julian at Winos dug this one out for us at the shop, I didn't know what to expect, not having drunk much Sangiovese in my time.

Name                The squids fist
Vintage              2009
Country              Australia
Region               South Australia
Grape                Sangiovese 70% Shiraz 30%
Maker                Some Young Punks
% Alc                14%
Price                  £??
Source               Winos


Just a quick note to remind me how good this was.   The wine was rich, almost sweet, almost port like.  This also had a really complex herbal note (presumably brought by the shiraz), almost Rhoney, but a sub-note.  Very interesting.  I will need to add more sangiovese to my shopping list. 

The Laughing Magpie

We've been ill for a week.  Normal service has now resumed, what better to blow away the cobwebs than a nice, old Aussie.

Name                The Laughing Magpie
Vintage              2002
Country              Australia
Region               Mclaren Vale
Grape                Shiraz Viognier
Maker                D'Arenberg
% Alc                 14.5%
Price                  £?About 15?
Source               Winos

This old boy, threw a whole load of crud at the bottom of the bottle, usually a good sign of a light touch in the winery.  The wine is still quite purple for it's age, whilst showing a little of the bricky red of age.

MMMMMM.  This is lovely.  This wine is so rich, brambly and autumnal fruit compote.  With some eucalyptus, licorice and leathery bite,  It has mouth filling fruit and spice with a real length (with a bit of a boozy tail).

A really profound experience, no chance of this one passing you by; it's intense, delicious, and we reckon around about £15 so well spent. Makes the £10 - 12 that you pay for a box-fresh d'Arenberg so convincing, that we really ought to commit some real time and currency to this maker.

Saturday bubbles

Friday didn't feel like Friday this week, as the Yorkshire Lass worked from home, and The Man didn't work at all, owing to not being able to cross the Pennines. So we lost our groove, and didn't chill any fizz down, opting for wintry CdR instead.

Which means that Saturday came and the fizz went in the fridge, this time a bargain-ous vintage champagne, bagged last weekend at Majestic. We tasted it in the store, and the sales person's job was done. We took 2 home.

Name                Heidsieck & Co Monopole Gold Top
Vintage              2004
Country              France
Region               Champagne
Grape                Champagne blend
Maker                Heidsieck & Co
% Alc                12%
Price                  £15
Source               Majestic


The nose is 'typique', bready, yeasty, and deliciously Champagne-y. A bready apple crumble; Eve's pudding no less. It's not a massively rich drink for a vintage, but is certainly tasty, and the glass beside me is emptying well! It's light and fragrant, but with a good late depth, and solid length. There is greatness here though, in its balance. No jagged edges, no acid that catches, no sweetness that lingers. A delicious drop.

At 6 years old, (from vintage, no idea when disgorgement was) it's still very much alive in the glass. We really enjoyed a bargain Blue top in pre-blog days, and Heidseick is becoming synonymous with great value, reliably champagne-y champagne in this household. There's sure to be a blue top on a great deal in a supermarket near you this festive season, and I warmly suggest that you give it a whirl.

Vent du Nord

Majestic, Domaine Ste Rose, Vin de Pays d'Oc £6.99 with £2 off when you buy 2 bottles.

Having had a (gigantic) Rousanne by this producer, I was interested to see what their Chardonnay / Rousanne blend was like. It seemed like a winter friendly blend, all set to be tasty and interesting, but turned out to be a wierd let down. There's another bottle in the rack, and maybe given chance with a meal, it'll do better, but for now, it's a 'don't buy again'.

It was pretty winey, the sort of thing if handed to me in a pub wouldn't register as anything other than a slightly above average house white. I couldn't tell you where it was from, no sense of place, despite being as French a thing as you care to dream up. The aftertaste was just so bitter, we drank it with a grimace. The man was distinctly unimpressed with this choice of mine. Oops.

E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone

It's cold outside, what better to warm the cockles than a good CdR.

Majestics have a buy 2 get  20% off deal on the Rhone at the moment, so I picked a couple up to try.  CdR can be of mixed quality even within the quality tree of the Rhone.  For those that don't know what I am talking about I will try to explain.  The Rhone as an area is split into named ACs, the French's way of categorising wine, each AC has a bunch of rules to ensure some consistency.  Which AC you fall into depends on where your vineyard is and how you process them.  In ascending quality (usually) it goes like this:

Cotes Du Rhone
Cotes Du Rhone Villages
Cotes Du Rhone Villages (named village) eg. Cairanne
Named AC (or Cru) - e.g Gigondas, Cotes-Rotie

A good description and map can be found here

Today I have a modest Cotes Du Rhone, by the venerable maker (mostly from the Northern Rhone) E. Guigal.

Name                 Cotes Du Rhone
Vintage              2006
Country              France
Region               Rhone
Grape                Rhone Blend
Maker                E. Guigal
% Alc                14%
Price                  £6.79
Source               Majestic


I enjoyed this thoroughly, there were lovely hedgerow fruit notes with boot polish and leather, probably showing because there a was a little bottle age to allow it to develop some complexity. There was lots to enjoy here, with some cedar / pencil case notes too.
I have had younger Guigal CdRs and they have been a little austere; this on the other hand has handsomely benefited from it's 4 year relaxation period, is rich and generous, and a serious wine at a low price.  I will go and stash a case at this bargain price.