Beer expert blind tastes Supermarket IPAs | The Craft Beer Channel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- In one of the most requested videos ever, we finally do a blind taste test of the UK's supermarket IPAs are are pleasantly surprised and horrified in equal measure. Enjoy, or endure?
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Remember to drink responsibly(ish) and not be that guy...
Love & Hate has got to be one of the most consistently good supermarket beers I've drank, great work from Vocation :)
It's weird I had a couple of really oxidised ones in a row which put me off buying it, need to revisit it. Interestingly I'd always go for a life & death 4 pack over anything else though!
I always appreciate your journalistic integrity on these tests - there are some breweries in there that I’m sure you have relationships with and you’re setting yourself up to possibly absolutely rinse them
The unveiling is a nervous time for me!!
You would never know
Scroobius Pip approves of your spelling of "Phoenix"
Nice to see Proper Job in the top 10. Spot on blind tasting notes aswell!
Vocation and Northern Monk are solid breweries for knocking out reliable supermarket beers, but I would always prefer to order directly from the brewery for many of the reasons you mentioned but especially to guarantee freshness!
It doesn't surprise me that Greene King East Coast IPA was skunked. For some daft reason they put it in clear bottles and supermarkets don't always store them properly.
You're a brave man trying that beer.
I always think that clear glass bottles, show a complete lack of care from the brewery; and Greene King are the worst offenders!
@@agdewey Totally agree, this is why I don't drink Badger beers much either as they tend to put most in clear bottles too.
Glad to see Siren having a good showing. Easily my favourite right now. Lovely stuff.
This is a really interesting and relevant one for me. I definitely can’t afford to be spending how much I’d like to at my local craft beer shop, so these supermarket options are my go to for most weeks/months, so great to know which to go for and which to avoid.
Also I’d stayed away from Vocations’s love and hate after I had a couple of bad vocation beers, might’ve been one of their New England IPA’s but I think I must’ve had a few bad cans? Will pick this one up when I next find it
Great video guys, love this sort of ‘best value- what to get and what not to’ sort of video as I’m someone who has still got a long list of beers to try
Favourite supermarket beer? Idea for the next blind taste test? Let us know below..... ALSO! Small edit - I am talking nonsense when I talk about hop creep. Bit drunk - the hops have enzymes that break down malt sugar, that remaining yeast consumes. Not yeast munching hops.
Anchor Steam? Kidding, that's not a supermarket beer in the U.S., and possibly one of the reasons they're going out of business. (They also shat the bed on moving forward with new beers but whatever.)Many states don't even allow supermarket beers. In states where you can find it there aren't many craft options, but I guess you've got the same problem in the UK.
Can't imagine you'd be able to do it for so many reasons, but would be nice to see taste tests of some beers submitted by homebrewers.
Weihenstephaner Weis or Tripel Karmeliet
Wheat Beer would be interesting! Seems quite underrepresented nowadays...
Pale Ale next! Northern Monk Faith is a great fridge filler
love this channel since finding it... drinking the new 0.5% collab Mash Gang/ Verdant as watching this... would love to see a good NOLO vid soon, or just table beers.
Mate I tell you what, being able to pick up the ale notes from St Austell and Thornbridge is ridiculous, fair play
Haha thanks. Gonna ask each brewery what the yeast is. I swear can Jaipur is US05, not a British strain so intrigued how it came across so "casky"
I've generally avoided supermarket brews for the reasons you gave, but my local Morrisons now has a dedicated refrigerated section with a nice selection of crafties (North, Vocation, Siren to name a few). With their reasonable prices and a 4 for 3 offer, I can no longer resist picking up a few cans with the weekly shop and I expect many others will feel the same - including those that are relatively new to the scene. Great vid, great research - keep it up!
Haha a new kind of hop creep
Respect for your honesty. I think you started the video hoping to conclude that irrespectively of the ethic side, the drinking experience of supermarket beers is subpar but when you noticed it wasn’t you admitted it.
Mad Squirrel used to be my local - with a bottle shop full of fridges. Never had the off notes before from the fridge 👍
I try to shop in bottle shops as much as I can, trying to show my support for the little guy. Use it or lose it as they say!
Saying that, if I'm strapped for cash at the end of the month I sometimes can't resist a couple of bottles of proper job. It's £1.85 a bottle in the Sainsbury's at the end of the road and it's a really solid beer
"Look at you, you creamy bad boy" are words I never expected to leave Jonny's mouth 😂
So glad you loved the Vocation Love and Hate because it’s been one of my favourites for years now, ever since Tesco started selling it. I often try the other stuff that comes in but am yet to find a supermarket ipa that surpasses it. It’s so good!
Strawpedo Reef is the best tasting-notes ever. 100% agree!
Salt - IKAT is my favourite "supermarket" beer
Much better than the Huckaback
Salt Tram is fantastic!
Interesting vid, as always. I love Vocation Life and Death as well. I had a pint of Road Crew not too long ago (Cameron's = basically Tooth & Claw) which was essentially a pint of Butter Beer.
We can often find local craft beer at supermarkets her in NC and we're happy to support them. I'd prefer to find them at smaller locations rather than supporting large companies, but it is what it is. We only review craft beer on our channel, so we tend to seek them out directly from the breweries themselves and/or local taprooms that carry only local/regional beer.
Great episode! My local Morrisons (Ipswich) stock Buxton Axe Edge and Thornbridge x Burnt Mill Riffle. Both in my opinion are excellent. I've had both fresh from the brewery also. Tesco also have Sierra Nevada pale ale on special. On my budget these all supplement my homebrew stocks
Very lucky here in New Zealand. A lot of our supermarkets have a dedicated, chilled section just for craft beers from our best breweries. The best ones even have an area for Fresh Hop beers during hop harvest season!
Not even all UK bottleshops have that...
Love & Hate (Vocation) and Heathen (Northern Monk) are my go to supermarket ales...they really hit hard and taste amazing...nice to know others like 'em too!!
You went above and beyond on this video my friend.
Faith from Northern monk is probably my favourite supermarket beer
My favourite pub has Great Northern Lager as their house one, one of many reasons that I love them.
It’s funny, you mentioned tasting marshmallow and how that shouldn’t be in an IPA. In October 2022 one of the local breweries in Charlotte made a marshmallow IPA. It was good, definitely not drinking two back to back, but fun. Thanks Heist!
Yikes. I'd skip over that on the beer board!
Next taste test do modern craft vs traditional breweries versions of the same beer style.
Northern and, yorkshire specifically, beers doing the best. Not suprised as we are blessed with good breweries up here! 😊
I live in a state in the US where they cannot sell supermarket beers. You can get a special "restaurant" type license where can sell beer or wine from outside breweries but I've never seen them sell their "own brands", so this whole concept is interesting and new to me. I'll be visiting UK this month so good to know I should basically avoid these beers. (- ; Hoping I can find some Omnipollo, Five Points, and\or De Dolle though. You've made them sound incredible on past episodes. Cheers!
oooh beer snob, hello.... when you are here, recommend you visit and look at Kernel, Pressure Drop, Beak, Verdant, Deya, and a few of the regionals such as Arbor in the west
These for the most part aren't supermarket "own brand" beers, they're beers brewed by (mostly) independent breweries specifically to go into supermarket stores. The only two that you could consider "own brand" were the crap blood orange and anti-establishment ones.
You'd be missing out if you dismissed the top 5 breweries here at least.
@@Carpetto thanks for the clarification! Interesting. Will perhaps check out. I will have limited time during my vacation, so honestly plan more to just hit some pubs and get some good cask ale, and\or find a bottle shop but will not rule out the supermarket stuff if ends up "happening" thanks to the CBC videos and comments here. Cheers!
I spoke to a brewer who said that most breweries buy their hops on contract to a certain weight each year. That meant that during covid and lockdown they ended up with huge amounts of hops not being used. This is where I imagine all those hops went, supermarket beers.
You should come up to the new Vocation bar in Halifax. It's amazing.
I spent over 3 years in England and Northern Monk consistently gets better.
Big fan of this channel and often take the recommendations and this hasn't let down either. My local Tesco stocks both Love and Hate and Heathen (fair play to this supermarket, has a really wide selection normally) and neither of these have let down at all!
While the Heathen is good, the Love and Hate really is deserving of it's top rating. Cracking beer
i’m absolutely brewing a marshmallow ipa now. thanks for the idea!
Fun fact: The state operated liquor stores in Sweden don’t allow refrigeration since it promotes drinking.
Huckaback can definitely vary a hell of a lot, on a good day it's lovely!
It would be interesting to do a mini follow up to blind review the top 10 in three months to see how much variance there is.
Interesting idea!
My pick of supermarket IPAs has to be Buxton Axe Edge from Morrisons but the Vocation Love & Hate is definitely my second favourite. Both are solid 3.8+ beers on Untappd.
Would have loved you to have thrown Northern Monk Transient into the mix - one of the only supermarket beers I ever buy (Morrisons) and nearly always on the money as far as a thicc hazy IPA goes. Great video!
It wasn't in my Morrissons! Will have to find some.
Am also a fan of Northern Monk but not seen the Vocation beer on the shelves. Will certainly make sure I give it try now
Would love to see an episode with South African beers. We’re a hive of creativity and dedication to craft. Large amount of ales and lagers using South African malts and hops in this side that will blow your minds!
We'd love to go there! maybe one day!
A lot of grocery stores in my part of Canada sell craft beers from local breweries and they are usually decently fresh and in a fridge
By grocery store are we talking Target/Walmart etc or smaller ones? The question here is about size and approach, not just the fact there's also food and such!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel They are quite big region chains, equivalent to Sainsbury's basically
ALDI anti establishment is also made by Williams Bros .
Love/Hate has been my go to IPA for ages
Never would have considered the Vocation beer. I will now. Heathen a classic, and I really like proper job for a supermarket job.
Hooray an IPA taste test where I've actually tasted quite a few of them. Yeah Love & Hate and Vocation beers in general are probably the best you can get from Tesco. Oh dear I bought my Dad a tin of The Cat Amongst because I liked the tin 😫 Anyway my conscience is clear about buying beer from the supermarket because I also pick up a 5ltr container from our local brewery (Drop the Anchor) most weekends 😁🍺🍺🍺
My Morrisons has the vast majority of its craft beer in fridges now.
Great to hear!
I love a hot sunny afternoon of drinking 22 IPAs... 🥴🥴🤣 well done Jonny your palate held up all the way. It's a shame with supermarket beer that it's left out on a shelf... they don't understand 'hop forward' beer unfortunately, it's the same here in NZ. Cheers I enjoyed watching this as we cant get alot of these beers in our neck of the woods, cheers Mike in NZ 🍻🍻
We probably need to discuss actual cost. Main Supermarket’s pricing at £3.75 to £4, verses not much more (sub 6%) direct from breweries.
That arbor beer is £4 in my local Sainsbury, would much rather spend 50p more and go to my bottle shop!
I bought some of these in my local bottleshop and I must say I "rated" them highly.
I brought a 4 of Vocation’s Hop Skip & Juice last week and it smelled of bad breath. At the same time I got Northern Monk, Faith and it also smelled of bad breath. The. Vocation also had to much Chloride it made it a touch sharp on the after taste in a none completely way.
I'm so glad my taste in IPAs has been vindicated! You picked my favourite two. If I have to get from a supermarket, Northern Monk and Vocation are my go-tos. Consistently good. North Brewing do a couple of decent ones as well - not sure Future Skies is one of them.
My local USA supermarket stocks local, small breweries in the five or six stores within a few hours drive.
Great video, thanks. Would like to see a DIPA version of this, agree the supermarket offerings are toned down so some of the DIPAs have that bitterness and structure that the IPAs lack. Just drinking an 8 week old Salt IKAT from Tesco now and it really is a solid beer and unbeatable at the price.
Urbanaut Toasted Marshmallow IPA is delightful. There is room for marshmallow in an IPA when it’s done right 🍻
Nope never. Not no how.
Great content CBC, usually a bottleshop/Brewser man but I'll dip in to supermarkets during a crisis (No beer left in the house) 😁
A Supermarket Big Beer review would be cool, DIPAs/Impy Stouts are much more available these days and probably tempting to the general punter. For the sake of your liver I'd cut down the 22 haha 👍
ps. . Personal fav DIPA in the supermarkets is probably Aoraki from Vocation 😁
It's interesting to see how well the Neipa style beers held up, as I always thought they would struggle much more being kept on the shelf compared to Westies.
Me too. Kind of baffled so I think it's more that UK brewers just make better neipa then wcipa
My go to Supermarket beer is Sierra Nevada PA. It's a shame Torpido isn't as readily available. Great video once again!
Dead shelf beers should always be known as shelf turds.
Also, with you all the way on strawpedo-ing Reef. Was superb.
Given up on supermarket 440s and just but lagers and the little cube packs of craft beer. Hazy Jane etc.
Get a few nice ones from the bottle shop though.
Don't give up in vocation!!!
I watched this in a pub with a pint of Old Peculier...think I defo had the best beer😂
Absolutely no surprise that Vocation & Northern Monk come out on top, their supermarket output is consistently decent. Love & Hate fresh is incredible but it has had constistency issues in the past so glad you got a good one.
Also, no self respecting craft beer drinker should touch anything by Beavertown or Fourpure, for obvious reasons.
Fourpure are technically not macro-owned anymore, just FYI!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel technically not, no. They were for a long time, though. A bit like Magic Rock are now considered craft again (but I disagree with that.)
Loads of these beers started out great and just declined gradually. Vocation and Northern Monk are old reliables tho. Great video and jeez I'm jealous of your palate man class!
Enjoyed the video. My budget allows one or two expensive craft beers each week from a bottle shop or put. Nice to have a four pack of Faith or Jaipur or Life or Death for the same price as a top end can as well to drink after.
try Cracking Ibiza for a craft beer themed read this summer!
I could be wrong but In my area in the Midwest of the US we don't really have any supermarket brand beers. We have a popular grocery chain called HyVee that luckily has a great wine and spirits section that sells tons of local beer from our state as well as lots of beer from macro breweries. European breweries like Weihenstephaner and Budvar are even sold there. No store brand beers that I know of though. Is supermarket beer more of a European phenomenon maybe?
IPA isn’t my usual style, but I love Jaipur.
in sweden all beer is sold warm, and needs to sit in the government warehouse 2 months before being sold to check for abv
Big fan of Heathen nice to see it up there, would love to see a blind tasting of Irish supermarket ipas but would need second mortgage with current min alcohol pricing 😅
Pollys Mosaic maze is not only the best IPA in any supermarket but is also one of the best beers out there period. Shame that wasn’t included. Great vid!
Which supermarket!? Saw a Pollys pale but no IPAs.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Morrisons!
Got bored a while ago from the supermarket offerings but Vocation is the only brewery I can still rely on for quality
Well I think there are a few you can add to the list! And a few that should remain firmly off it.
Now lets see US supermarket avail beers...Sierra Nevada, Bells, New Belgium, Cigar City on down!
Nice entertaining video as always! Could I ask... Any plans to resume your home-brewing videos? Missing them greatly!
Cold Beer is Amazing
I can't watch this, coz I stopped drinking alcohol almost 3 yrs ago (25-08-20), but I loved a good IPA & it's the one drink that I still crave for, every now & again (& again). I'm still a fully paid up member of CAMRA tho, coz I maintain the belief that 'proper' beer is a right, not a privilege. ;-)
Well, I don't know what supermarkets are featured here but, for those who are interested, Lidl used to do some really nice cans of decent 'real ale' & Aldi had some too..
Happy supping folks.....🍻
A lot of these are from Leeds or nearby. Cool to see
Gonna have to say, not all bottleshops are created equal in their care for expensive hoppy beers. But, most supermarkets aren’t good. If turnover is quick, that helps. People quickly buying all that fresh Life & Death!!
Fair point, though from what I have seen that is changing pretty fast as consumers demand it
bought a 4 pack of vocation New Musik hazy pale in B&M, dont remember the price but was pretty good value, I do wonder if the beer sold in so-called discount shops is maybe old stock, but these vocation beers were lovely.
Discount shop beer is a combination of old and new New Musik has been in Asda for a while aswell
Never heard the term "strawpedo", but I think I know what you mean. We called it "shotgunning". I used to "strawpedo" those little bottles of wine you get 😮
Brilliant video. Important thing to note for potential supermarket buyers, often you can get these direct from the brewers slightly cheaper (NM Heathen is currently £3.25 per can in a 6-pack versus £3.50 in-store). Everyone's happy (apart from the supermarket and they'll be fine).
Good knowledge!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I like Heathen ;) Not the best supermarket beer, but my favourite single IPA
Should a beer geek buy beer from the supermarket? Probably not. Should someone who has spent their life drinking Carling, who walks into a supermarket feeling adventurous, be able to get introduced to the world of craft beer? Absolutely. Shame they might get put off if they choose the wrong one, but it could also lead to a bright new future for them!
Where I live in the US, there is a chain of mega-sized supermarkets that have plenty of good to great craft beers in their coolers. But of course to get a low production, high-end craft beer you still need to go to a bottle shop.
Many of us got their first proper beers off the supermarket, whether it's IPAs, Belgian ales or German Weizen.
Found over the last few years i have really gone off craft beer it just gives me really bad headaches the next day, even just one can. I moved back to cask its cheaper,traditional, and doesn't pretend to be a cheesecake or something it's just good, simple heritage beer to be supped by the fire with a muddy dog
The first video I've watched was absolutely perfect, if I am not buying my beer from a supermarket where should I buy it from? I've recently been avoiding supermarkets completely in favour of a good pub but obviously, you can't go to the pub all the time.
From small and independent bottleshops, or indeed online from great beer websites!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I'm finding it quite hard to find some good websites would you have any recommendations?
@potterendergaming5335 beermerchants.com is what we use, plus caps and taps and Hop Burns Black are great bottleshops with websites.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Ah I'll check them out! Thanks for your help :)
*creates a whirlpool three times in the glass* "A bit under carbed."
This comment would be fair if I hadn't done it with all the beers in this test and had no issue with them. And indeed all the thousands of beers I try every year.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel No I know I was just joking sorry! Been watching this channel since the start. I know that you do that to release aroma.
I buy most of my beer (those I don't brew myself) from my local farm shop - Gibson's near Wingham, close to Canterbury here in East Kent. They stock local Kentish beer from Tonbridge (my favourite - consistently excellent), Gadd's, Wantsum and Time and Tide among others. Not only that, they stock excellent local fruit and vegetable produce and superb sausages. My concience is clear! I'll look out for your recommendations when I do venture in to my local Waitrose. Christ, I sound like a middle class cliche.
But it's a very nice sounding cliche.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel ❤️
Here I was working out a business plan for Marshmallow IPA's 😞
Evil Twin did an incredibly good marshmallow TIPA with an unneccesarily complex name a few years ago
Great to see Love & Hate perform so well. It must have been one of my first NEIPAs years ago and I still rank it alongside some of my favourites from Polly's, Verdant, Sureshot, etc.
Cold dry hopping with yeast in the package = d bomb in package when stored warm.
yes indeed. And even the odd actual bomb.
I love these comparisons. I’ve just discovered that I’m going to have to cut out gluten: it might be too niche but I’d love a review of different gluten free beers, most breweries have one.
Haha niche is what we do! Will see if it is viable from a wide selection perspective.
It’s very hard to determine the amount of gluten in a beer and a lot of people outside of the beer community do not know that including drs. I’m highly skeptical of gluten in most beers having any impact on people labeled gluten intolerant.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel my current list to try includes beers from Burnt Mill, Thornbridge, Arbor, Magic Rock, Siren, Five Points, North, Cloudwater, Purity and Bath Ales. I’m happy that you’d consider it.
@@mikekeller5202intolerant and allergic are not the same. I avoid wheat as it makes me feel odd, my friend avoids gluten as it makes him Poo blood.
Most IPAs taste near-identical to me
Great video, as always! I've encountered beers that I've been pretty certain are skunked/oniony but usually just let it slide. Have you encountered situations like this before, and do you just roll with it? Or gently inform the bar tender?
We get it pretty often - it's a sign of either poor quality hops or a beer that's VERY fresh. I think it's worth telling the bartender whenever there is a quality issue, even if you're not looking to exchange beer the feedback should be helpful to them
Late to the party, but are all the cans you taste the same level of freshness? I find it hit and miss in supermarkets to get very fresh beers, and would you take that into account in your tastings?
Quick question Jonny, can I ask you what's that flavour (almost spicy) that I can taste in the first part of a sip in almost every Salt/Polly's/North Brew etc etc beers? I reckon it has something to do with their house yeast or so... I just can't replicate at home and I love it xD
Oh wow. I haven't heard anyone referring to strawpedoing reef in years.
Just got a little bit sick in my mouth... Good times
Strawpedoing reefs when they were 99p in spoons takes me back! Great video, some really good beer especially for £3 a can, thanks Domo!!
West coast IPA? - Big Eagle York brewing in Asda at the moment. Probably one of the best IPAs in the supermarkets currently!
Didn't see that one sadly. Maybe sold out.
My beer buds!! 🎉🎉
I'm confused by the whole supermarket label. Here in California all supermarkets have a solid selection from Sierra Nevada, Firestone Walker, Stone, Firestone Walker and others. I have a local kinda upscale (I guess) supermarket that has the full range of Russian River selections. I guess it's a British thing?
I think so too - not quite sure why it's so keenly felt here, but our argument that we should support small business first still stands!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel The supermarkets I'm talking about also have offerings from Pizza Port, Almanac, Bare Bottle, Off Pattern, etc. which are local and I think would qualify as small. Perhaps the difference is that refrigerated beer shelves extend for 10+ meters in length.
Could have been interesting to see when these badboys were brewed.
But yeah, WHO THE HECK PUTS IPA IN A CLEAR BOTTLE? Blasphemy!
Another great tasting 🍻
I’m very surprised at your comments on the Mad Squirrel Aztec beer, I had one last week and gave it 10/10.
Perhaps you got an off can.
Ian
Well this is the lottery of shelf stored beer. The can was likely fine at the start. Perhaps been ruined by temperature.
Ive had this a couple of times, not a good beer at all....
How do you know when spring onion means bad hops and not just Mosaic? Genuine question. Mosaic always tastes like onion to me. Do old hops present more in the aroma than in the palate?
Do you get onion from mosaic beers that others really enjoy? If so you might just be very sensitive to that particular aroma. Generally you'll get onion/garlic/earth for two reasons . One the beer is too fresh or "green" as the brewers call it. Hops take a while to settle aroma and flavour-wise in beer so breweries will let that round out in tank or can before selling. But bad hops - by which I mean low quality either from the field, the processing or the storage, won't generally lose their onion/garlic/earth aroma. Usually if it's "bad" hops it won't be so green or fresh onion as a too-fresh beer, and more earthy/musty/garlicky. In this case, it was the latter.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Thanks!
you missed some good breweries that are easily available in my local Morrisons: Salt, Northern, Pollys are all excellent beers imo
I had salt and North?! Didn't see a Pollys IPA, only pales in the shop