(no subject)

[ravencallscrows]

Lots of people put different things in their journals. My friend King Rat periodically posts ginger ale reviews in his. I'm going to borrow the concept from him, and post ale reviews in mine, because i occasionally sample different types of ale, some of which have been fairly interesting.

Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale (6.5% abv) This was interesting, but rather a bit different than i'd expected. In spite of it being a black ale, i was expecting a lighter flavour than this delivered, and was a bit surprised by the strength of the roasted cereal grain taste (primarily barley). Thus, instead of having a finish like a hefeweizen or lambic, it was a bit stouter, but still with a fairly smooth finish, with just a trace of the tannins from the elderberries. The fruit was more a factor in the bouquet than in the taste. Not a bad offering, one i'd drink again, but not necessarily one i'd go out of my way to find.

SkullSplitter Orkney Ale (8.5% abv) Contrary to popular opinion, the name doesn't derive from the hefty percentage of alcohol by volume found in this ale, which i think is the most potent i've sampled, and doubles the alcohol quantity in some commercial brews. Instead, it's named after the seventh Viking Earl of Orkney, who's name displays the mixing of Viking and Gaelic bloodlines found so frequently in the Orkney Islands- Thorfionn, who was nicknamed Hausakluif (Skull Splitter) for his fearsome prowess with the broadsword and battle-axe. I was expecting this to be far heavier than it was- it's a dark golden brown- nearly as dark as a porter or stout, but it's surprisingly smooth and very drinkable, and just a touch on the dry side. It's smooth and malty, with a nice complex finish. Quite a good offering, and one i'd heartily recommend to anyone who wanted to try an interesting ale or to those who weren't regular ale drinkers but like character in single-malt whisky.

Comments

[kingrat]

How do you get <lj user="gkr"> to display the text "King Rat" ? I can't find it anywhere in the LJ docs.

[wingedelf.livejournal.com]

It's a little trick- instead of using the <lj user&rt; tag, i'm just writing (or, more accurately, letting my client app write)the appropriate href pointing to your journal. The code looks something like this:

<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=gkr"&rt;<img height="17" border="0" src="http://www.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif" alt="gkr"
align="absmiddle" width="17"&rt;</a&rt;<b&rt;<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/gkr/"&rt;King Rat</a&rt;</b&rt;

[wingedelf.livejournal.com]

Grr. Brain not working this morning. greater than/less than. Substitute > for the &rt;- for what ever reason i was thinking left/right.

[turtlegrrl13.livejournal.com]

YUMMIE!!!!

[wingedelf.livejournal.com]

Especially the SkullSplitter- i was expecting it to have a lot more initial "bite" with the alcohol content being so high, but it was really nice and smooth like a good whisky. It wasn't until i was almost done with the bottle that i realized that there was the start of a buzz going- which rarely happens with beers to me (and never that i can recall from just one!).