When you are looking for the most exciting up and coming
breweries in the UK, you have to look to the East…. Almost as far East as you
can in the UK to the small village of Eastry in Kent. There you will find Time and Tide Brewing.
Founded on the idea of creating unique beers and
experimenting with flavours that you wouldn’t think would ever work (A beetroot
Hefeweizen anyone??!!), Time and Tide have managed to do what so many other
smaller breweries have struggled with, creating a consistent and solid line up
of beers that create all the hype for themselves and leave everyone talking
about them.
Not content with just pushing out great beer, they are
constantly engaging with their customers, getting and taking feedback to
improve or just to engage in chatter about all things beer and it’s this
presence that has enamoured them to so many in the craft community.
Below are my thoughts on the beers I’ve had so far and even
a sneak peek at an as yet unreleased beer that I was very lucky to sample…….
The Kraken Coffee stout – 7.4%
'What a Kraken grasps, it does not lose, be it a longship or
a leviathan'..... George R.R. Martin could not have been more right because
once this this deliciously dark denizen of the deep has you he's never letting
go!!! One of my all time favourite coffee stouts, The Kraken is one of those
beers I can just go to over and over again.
This pours a thick, deep black with a dense beige head. Big
aromas of black coffee and dark chocolate with a vanilla sweetness. Taste is
pure coffee and chocolate goodness with some essence of toasted malts and
molasses. There's a small amount of carbonation and a medium body. I know there
have been a few tweaks to the recipe since I first had this and they've only
made it better!!
The great beer dad rating - 9/10
All in Jim IPA – 5.4%
That's right..... I'm going All In....Jim!!
This is a great IPA brewed with citra, cascade, sorachi and
herkules hops with an ABV of 5.4%
This pours gold with a light haze and has some nice aromas
of peach, passionfruit and pine. Taste is fairly sweet with a lasting
bitterness at the back but it's not overpowering. In the middle of all of that
there's stone fruits and grapefruit.
This is a really good, sessionable IPA that I could easily
fill the fridge with
The great beer dad rating - 8.5/10
Double stout – 9%
Lots of chocolate, coffee and roasted malt on the nose as
soon as the ring was pulled. Silky smooth pour with a thick off-white head.
Taste is coffee and chocolate with a good smokiness. This doesn't feel like a
9% beer and I could happily drink this through the day
The great beer dad rating - 9/10
Papa Midnight black IPL – 6.5%
This is a real enigma of a beer, as the name suggests it
pours a deep black with aromas of roasted malts, herbs and grass. Taste is a
delightful blend of roasted grains with citrusy hops and pine with a nice
warmth at the finish. Time to embrace the darkness and let it take me.....
The great beer dad rating - 8.5/10
Domino white stout – 8.6%
We end with a very special sneak preview of Time and Tide’s 8.6%
imperial white stout, Domino. This is a big beer, no doubt about it. As the
name suggests it pours a very pale amber colour but the aromas are all impy
stout, roasted malts, chocolate and smoke with a little sweetness. The taste
follows nicely, with the same deep roasty flavours and a hoppy bitterness at
the end. Lighter mouthfeel than a traditional impy stout but in no way detracts
from what is a fantastic beer. Personally, I can't wait until this is released
so I can get some more and especially see if ageing adds anything to the flavour
The great beer dad rating - 9/10