The Rake (Utobeer)
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Visits Details
04 Mar 2009 (Ian)
Why I left The Market Porter with 2 Thornbridge beers on and came here I'm not sure, but perhaps I had my arm twisted. The Welsh beer festival was on where they had a stillage in the patio and you ordered the beers at the beer. Very trusting as you could just walk up and serve yourself. Wow, never seen anything like that before.
Celt Experience (now brands are owned by Evans Evans) - Golden | 4.20 | | It's an ok slightly sweet golden ale. Good hops on finish. Good actually. |
Breconshire - Cribyn | 4.50 | | Pale gold, disappearing head. Some stale dust on finish on a standard bitter. Some ok fruit. Not great, it's an ok ish bitter. |
Ffos y Ffin - Dylan's Choice | 4.40 | | Hazy copper, bit yeasty. Ugh, not very good. If Dylan Thomas knew this was brewed in his name he'd be spinning in his grave, assumming he wasn't too drunk. Not a good bitter but with some fruit salad. |
Ffos y Ffin - Paxton's Pride | 5.50 | | Syrupy malty beer. It's go a nutty, syrupy malty bitter flavour. Not very drinkable. |
28 Feb 2009 (Dubbel)
Popped in on the way back from Putney. Ian had obviously had the same idea and had beaten us there. Started off with a pint of 6%er before Ian very kindly bought me an expensive half of Sierra Nevada, which I remember really enjoying but shamefully was too inebriated to remember what it was called!
Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Wassail | 6.00 | | Potent! |
26 Feb 2009 (Ian)
Although there were a couple of beers on handpump, the Sierra Nevada Weizenbock on tap was all I had time for.
Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Best Bitter | 4.10 | Not Tried | |
Dark Star - Imperial Stout | 10.50 | Not Tried | |
19 Feb 2009 (Ian)
After doing both the Wenlock and Market Porter in one day, plus a few other pubs as well, I only had capacity for a couple of beers here. I had one of the Austrian beers on tap too.
Dark Star - Best Bitter | 4.00 | | A brilliantly toasty beer. Pale chestnut colour with a lasting beige head. Very popular with those sat around me. Maybe not quite ready to be on as a bit of green apple on the flavour. Toasty malts and as a brown bitter its very good. Another day or so and it would be excellent. |
Dark Star - Original | 5.00 | Not Tried | |
17 Feb 2009 (Ian)
Met up with Ang from Ratebeer here and spent the whole evening obssessing about Hayley, the American barmaid. Oh and drinking far too much imperial stout including Thornbridge Bracia in bottle Stone Russian Imperial Stout in bottle and Sierra Nevada Harvest (big hoppy thing) on tap.
Dark Star - Imperial Stout | 10.50 | | Not quite as brilliant as at Planet Thanet two years ago, needs a bit of condition, like another 2 months to settle down, but still utterly fantastic. And and I drank this side by side with the Stone Russian Imperial Stout (a top 50 beer on Ratebeer) and it was hard to pick a winner between the two. |
Dark Star - American Pale Ale (some has also been brewed by Fuller's) | 4.70 | | Dark Star week at The Rake and they were going through a whole range of beers. As per usual, lots of big hops and really lovely. |
29 Jan 2009 (Ian)
Yes, it was freezing cold, but we sat outside on the decking underneath one of the heaters. Sat here and alternated between Thornbridge Bracia and the Stone Double Bas***d on tap. Busy pub and I met up with 4 more RBerians here and we had what is known as "a good time."
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Bracia | 9.00 | | I almost leapt over the bar when I saw that this was on cask. Black as night, thin tan head. Really does smell of chestnuts, maybe a bit of plastic. Chestnuts and impty stout in mouth, but lovely velvety smooth. It really is nutty throughout. Bit bizarre, bit oily but smooth at the same time, even a little grainy on the finish. Praline finish is amazing. Bit rawer than when I had it in a bottle. Bit more tarry. Lovely though. A couple of people didn't like it, so I finished theirs off for them too. |
Purity - Pure Gold | 3.80 | Not Tried | |
17 Jan 2009 (Ian)
We came for the second of their Meet the Brewer sessions, the first being Brew Dog before Christmas. This was an excellent event, giving us the chance to meet Stefano and Kelly, 2 of the 4 brewers at Thornbridge and they went through the tasting notes for each beer. We enjoyed a mix of cask and bottled beers all well ordered by Alex from Thornbridge and served by Hayley from The Rake. Met up with Dubbel and his lot and we learnt all about hops and yeast and brewing temperatures and what kind of flavours these guys like and it was fantastic. The barley wine, Alliance, aged in Pedro Ximenex casks and served from the bottle was my favourite closely followed by the Bracia, also in bottle.
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Jaipur | 5.90 | | One of my favourite beers and just so drinkable it's unbelievable for a 5.9% beer. |
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Halcyon | 7.70 | | Sticky hoppy American piney resiny IPA aroma. Bit sweet in mouth. Only 1 cask made apparently with the rest going into bottle, so we were lucky to get this on cask. It's amazingly good. Good piney, sticky beer. Lovely hoppy peppery hoppy aroma. |
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Saint Petersburg Imperial Russian Stout (now superseded by 7.4% version) | 7.70 | | Really lovely choc impy stout and coffee flavours/aromas, but just has an edge of diacetyl that spoils it for me. Being picky, but then that's my job. |
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Ashford | 4.20 | | Lots of toast and malt and some good hop on the finish. Really drying on the finish. Great to watch the brewer, Kelly, sink a pint of this and the smile on his face. Obviously very happy with how it turned out. This is a very drinkable, tasty brown ale style beer with a really toasty drying flavour and finish. |
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Seven Heron | 4.00 | | Just about the last pint out of the barrel and it tastes it. Unattractive diacetyl aroam. Bit of toast. Dullish, blandish, muddyish in mouth and in appearance. Some citrus hop on finish. |
17 Jan 2009 (Dubbel)
Attended the Meet the Brewer session with the lovely chaps from Thornbridge. After some sublime tasters above the pub which included Jaipur, Alliance and Bracia, we headed down to find Halcyon and St Petersburg on cask. Danger ensued.
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Saint Petersburg Imperial Russian Stout (now superseded by 7.4% version) | 7.70 | | I became quite excited when this was pulled through just as we were considering heading off. Superbly crafted impy stout with roasted/burnt malts, some coffee, chocolate and black forest fruits. On reflection a second pint of it was probably a mistake. I made it home but not sure quite how. |
Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Halcyon | 7.70 | | Think immensely hopped IPA, then add some more hops. Despite this, not too astringent, lemon, grapefruit and some sweeter fruits fight for attention before the dry finish bulldozes all that precedes it. Not for the faint-palated. |
05 Dec 2008 (Dubbel)
BrewDog week at The Rake with the full bottled range plus a grand selection of their beers from the cask, including one or two exclusives. Buzzing on a Friday early evening. More than warm enough under the glow of the outdoor heaters covered by the jumbrella. This was certainly a drinking highlight of the year. I have only listed the cask ales.
BrewDog - Paradox Rake Raspberry Smokehead | 10.00 | | Brew Dog's Riptide Imperial Stout infused with peaty, warming Smokehead malt whisky with fresh raspberries added to the mix to give it a deep plum blush and a sweet & tart summer fruit aspect. Worked extremely well, hats off! |
BrewDog - Paradox Smokehead Edition | 10.00 | | Utterley brilliant. Strong Islay peat and smoke aroma, some coffee flavour breaks through the dominant whiskey. |
BrewDog - Paradox Grain Edition | 10.00 | | Possibly even better than the Smokehead but both are vastly different in style. Much more subtle and smooth with the most delicious chocolate notes imaginable. |
BrewDog - Zephyr | 13.00 | | Imperial IPA matured in Invergordon whisky casks with fresh strawberries and left for over a year. Pink tinted, hugely fruity and sweet with vanilla and toffee flavours. Is there anything that these guys cannot do? |
BrewDog - Rip Tide | 8.00 | Not Tried | |
BrewDog - Paradox Arran Edition | 10.00 | Not Tried | |
BrewDog - Zeitgeist | 4.90 | Not Tried | |
27 Nov 2008 (Ian)
I was up in London so I popped in to see what was on. I had the Blue Moon wheat beer on keg as well which was pretty good as well as a bottle of the Oakham Bishop's Farewell, which is just fantastic in bottle. Almost as good as on cask. Good little pub that was advertising their Brew Dog week the following week.
Maldon - Farmers Bitter Noth | 4.00 | | Copper, thin beige head. It's a bitter. Some mixed fruit. Some drying hop, some biscuity malt. Fairly standard bitter in good nick. |
Dark Star - Winter Meltdown | 5.00 | Not Tried | |
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