Hop to the Hilton
The old Thistle hotel in Glasgow has undergone a huge investment by new owners Doubletree by Hilton. Part of this has involved a whole new bar and restaurant. The new bar is called "Cask" and it's a huge improvement from the previous bar and the refurbishment of which, has included the development of a beer with Drygate brewery.
We were invited along to see Drygate brewery and find out more about the new beer, also called "Cask", which is actually a kegged beer.
We started with a look at the core range at Drygate. Seven Peaks and Outaspace are my favourites.
Making use of the smaller brewing kit at Drygate has enabled the development of beers such as "Crossing the rubicon" (India pale ale) "Orinoco" (breakfast stout) , "Disco forklift truck" (Mango pale ale) and "Chimera" (India pale lager). My favourites here were the deliciously creamy and coffee Orinoco and the fruity Disco fork lift truck. The artwork on all 4 is great!
After finding out about how beer is made (there's enough there for another post or two!) it was time to move onto the Doubletree by Hilton Glasgow Central to try some beer paired with food.
We started with Gladeye IPA alongside tempura prawns, spiced salmon and battered fish.
Gladeye is an Indian Pale Ale or IPA for short, a beer known for tropical fruit and floral tastes and aromas. Heavily hopped purposefully, to keep the beer in a good condition whilst on its voyage to India to keep the army there happy (so the legend goes..). Gladeye is made with the following malts: Lager Malt, Caramalt, Dark Crystal, Vienna
And the following hops: Centennial, Nelson Sauvin, Cascade. Dryhopped with Cascade.
The beer itself is quite sweet for an IPA, thankfully not as hoppy as is the trend at the moment for overly bitter IPAs. It has toffee caramel notes and a bitterness at the end to keep you on your toes.
The beer worked well with the batter of the fish, cutting through the fats of the batter.
The beer "Cask" developed for Doubletree by Hilton is 5%ABV. The hops used include Calypso, Motueka, Bramling Cross and Hercules with Vienna malt. This was very similar in taste to a wheat beer such as Erdinger or Franziskaner. With a slight lemon taste. I'm not a huge wheat beer fan but liked this one. It's not too sweet or banana/clove-like.
Paired with brisket/ribs which can be found on the menu as "cask and brisket". Again, this worked well with the beer balancing the strong meat and sauce.
We ended with some Harviestoun Ola Dubh (pronounced Ola Doo) paired with cheese. Ola Dubh is a thick, syrupy and sweet beer, perfect for the end of a meal. The treacly and port-like flavours worked especially well with the blue cheese.
We'll need to go back to Cask to see what it's like at night time but it's certainly much improved on the previous bar and has the sort of atmosphere beffiting a night of cocktails, beer or a place to just nip in for a coffee!
Cask, Doubletree by Hilton Glasgow Central, 36 Cambridge Street, Glasgow, G2 3HN
Disclaimer: Fred doesn't like beer, it's smelly and not as tasty as milk. He says his mum likes beer and writes an honest review of the beer and food here. He's fed up reading his mum and dad's reviews on Untappd.
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