The only way to begin!

2016 has finally arrived, and may I wish you a very happy new year! As well as beginning a new year, I’m beginning my 300 beers challenge! When I look over the list, there really is only one way to begin… Adnams Broadside!

I wasn’t always a beer drinker, but one of the reasons I started enjoying real ale was a trip to the Adnams brewery in Southwold. It was my first brewery trip, and ever since then I’ve enjoyed drinking and making beers. Adnams were particularly generous when it came to tasting (more so on the wines and spirits than the beers, but still!) and we had a great afternoon wandering around the brewery. I can highly recommend a trip there if you ever get a chance.

Since that time, Adnams beers have always been special to me. Last summer, one of my beer buddies held an “Ale Test Fest” where we all brought one of our favourite beers to line them up against each other. We had to guess both the beer name, brewery and its strength. No one had trouble guessing mine, as I make no secret of the fact that Broadside is one of my top rated beers. The winner on the day was Badgers’ Poachers Choice (another tasty and more unusual beer tasting of liquorice and damsons) but Broadside stood well and was in good company. More about the Ale Test Fest and other events another day…

About the beer

Beer 1 of 300 – Adnams Broadside

The 300 beer list categorises it as “Best bitter”

This is one of Adnams flagship beers alongside Southwold Bitter, Ghost Ship and Explorer. At a hefty 6+%, Broadside is not for the faint of heart! It’s dark and rich and tasty, with a good hop balance. It’s delicious on tap and in the bottle, although the cask version is not as strong as the bottle (4.7% I believe). You can buy it in mini-casks as well, direct from Adnams and elsewhere, which is a great way to enjoy it.

Alcohol: 6.3% (in the bottle, less on tap)

My rating: 10/10 (slightly bias!)

I rate it highly because of its sentimental value to me (of course) but mostly because I just can’t walk past a Broadside pump clip in a pub without stopping for one (or more). It truly is an awesome beer and a personal favourite.

Where can you get Broadside? The fantastic thing is that it is readily available in most supermarkets and from Adnams directly. You won’t have to look hard or far to find one, and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

What a great way to start my 300 beer challenge! If all the beers end up as good as this one, I’ll be a very happy (and likely tipsy) man!

Let's get cracking!

I’ve been a fan of buying, making and drinking beer for a while now and decided to take on a new challenge in 2016. You may be familiar with the book – 300 beers to try before you die – which is a great read for any beer lover. The book sets out a list of 300 must try beers, and this coming year (2016), I’m going to try and acquire and sample as many of them as possible.

Now 300 beers is a fair few, and throughout the year I’ll continue to make my own delicious home brews so it’s unlikely I’ll be able to hit all of 300 in one year. However, I’m going to set out on the journey and see how far I get! Even if I never reach all 300, it sure will be fun trying!

 

This blog is intended to track my progress on this journey, share my thoughts on the quality of the beers themselves, and just generally point out anything of interest along the way. I’ve no doubt some of the beers will be hard to come by, so I’ll try to share my success stories as well as the inevitable frustrations!

 If you want to join me in the challenge, please feel free to comment and tell me how you’re getting on. You can find the list in the book, of course, and no doubt some of the darker corners of the web also!

After deciding to take this on over Christmas, I’ve had a hunt through my rather sizeable stash in the garage and found six of the 300 already in stock! Hurrah! This will get me started, and many of the beers are also readily available from the supermarkets. Once those have been ticked off however, I suspect I’ll have to get a little more creative about where I find them. If you have any suggestions or tips, please pass them on!

 I look forward to sharing this challenge with you, so check back regularly for updates. I don’t drink every day, I hasten to add, but I’ll try to post frequently and fill in the gaps with my highs and lows of home brewing, pub crawling and other such shenanigans!