Siren Craft Brew - 10th Anniversary Mixed Case
With so many breweries, pubs and bottleshops closing down in recent times due to spiralling costs it was a small glimmer of joy to hear that Siren Craft Brew are celebrating turning 10 years old in 2023. They’ll be off to secondary school soon!
A modern brewery existing for a decade pretty much means they should be collecting a pension in craft beer terms. It’s a testament to Siren that they’ve not only managed to stay in business for 10 years but have grown steadily and brewed consistently good beers in that time.
To me, Siren are a jack-of-all-trades brewery in that they can turn their hand to pretty much any style and make a decent beer. Broken Dream on cask remains one of my favourite ever beers, Lumina is a perfect session IPA for the summer and I very nearly shouted out loud when I tasted their Old Fashioned barley wine at Indy Man in 2017 because it was that good. That’s just three from their catalogue but I could wax lyrical about almost all of their output I’ve tried over the years.
Not only that, they have launched several really interesting projects across their 10 years -
The Rainbow Project was started by them which we’ve enjoyed many times before.
Project Barista is their annual take on beers made with coffee in unorthodox ways.
Their annual Caribbean Chocolate Cake release is always a great way to see out the year (somehow we’ve never reviewed it despite partaking every year - last year’s was fantastic too!)
Time Hops - a series of beers dedicated to the five hops that helped build craft beer. You can watch the Craft Beer Channel’s amazing accompanying documentary that Siren funded HERE.
After several years of trying to plan a trip there, last year, we finally made it to Siren and their Tap Yard located just outside Reading which was well worth the wait. We tied it in with a weekend jaunt to various pubs and breweries around Reading too which is well worth a visit (especially The Nag’s Head). We probably should’ve posted a review of Reading but life got in the way as usual.
Siren hosted a 10th birthday bash at the Tap Yard recently and have a whole host of beers and events planned to celebrate their decennary - read all about it on their own blog.
This has turned into a bit of a love letter to Siren - so here’s to everyone at Siren past and present for making such consistently good beers - we look forward to the next 10 years and beyond!
And now onto the whole point of this blog post - a review of their 10th anniversary mixed case.
Before we get into the beers - here’s what came in the box:
Siren Craft Brew - 10th Anniversary Mixed Case
1 x Maiden 2022 - 10% Anniversary Barley Wine
2 x Exquisite Corpse - 6.5% Consequential IPA
2 x Times Ten - 5% 100-Day Lager
2 x Crescendo - 11% Imperial Stout
1 x 10th Anniversary Glass Tumbler
1 x Joe & Seph's x Siren Cheese Popcorn Snack
1 x Siren 10 year anniversary booklet
The booklet is lovingly put together and, as well as explaining each of the beers, it also tells the story by year of how Siren got to where it is today whilst also hinting at plans for the future.
Onto the main event -I’m bringing back the old ‘Expectation vs. Reality’ review format for these beers. Let’s gooooo!
Times Ten // 5% 100-Day Lager
What Siren say: A beautifully conditioned lager allowed 100 days to come to fruition. Mittelfrüh, Saphir and Czech Saaz hops offer fresh floral, herbal and subtle citrus flavours, complementing the base of cracker-like malts, which offer just a hint of sweetness. Crisp, refreshing and perfectly balanced.
Expectation: Whilst I’m not quite at the end of this evolution of a beer snob meme, I am very partial to a lager lately. Not something I’d expect to have written a few years ago. I’m looking forward to this - especially with talk of a longer conditioning time as I’m interested to see if that adds anything.
Reality: This is great! A proper Helles as crisp as a German autumn morning. It’s relatively herbal and although quite dry, it has a lovely underlying citrus tang that rounds it out. I’m glad I’ve got two of these because I drank this first can so quickly it barely touched the sides. Looking forward to cracking open the second on a sunny Spring day sometime soon.
Exquisite Corpse // 6.5% Consequential IPA
What Siren say: A celebratory beer inspired by the Surrealist game. Ten elements of this IPA have been contributed by people who have been influential to Siren over the years, the majority from amazing breweries. The only catch is that no-one knows what each other has proposed... what could possibly go wrong?
Expectation: I am very intrigued by this beer. Ten different people helped craft this beer with no knowledge of what the others were suggesting. It’s a fun take on an ubiquitous style and the booklet boasts a whole truckload of hops used at various points so I hope this delivers.
Reality: On opening this beer I was struck by a huge fruity aroma that sort of took me by surprise. I thought this was going to be more West Coast than it is whereas it feels like an amalgamation of all of the coasts. It’s everything you come to love from an IPA - fruity, piney, delicious, and fresh with a lovely bitter backbone. It’s very marmaladey which I loved. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately had to have the second can.
Crescendo // 11% Imperial Stout
What Siren say: A spectacular mashup of our most recent CCC project. We've captured the rich chocolate of Candour, the punchy vanilla of Curiosity and the luxurious intensity of Charm to create a Crescendo to the series. In ten years of brewing stouts, they haven't come much better than this.
Expectation: I loved all three beers this beer is a blend of so this is guaranteed to be good. What’s better is having two of them so I can squirrel one away to mature for a while. Vanilla, chocolate and coffee - the holy trinity for an imperial stout.
Reality: I actually shouted “Christ” after my first sip of this. What a beer. It smells just like melted chocolate and I want to bathe in it.
I’d had the 3 beers from the CCC project so knew I’d be in for a treat but this is pure decadence. It’s liquid chocolate but also so much more than that. Layers of rich chocolate, a hint of coffee roastiness and a sweet vanilla finish just makes this an incredible, incredible beer. Best stout I’ve had this year so far.
Maiden 2022 // 10% Anniversary Barley Wine
What Siren say: Maiden is our Anniversary celebration, a blend of barley wine aged in a multitude of barrels sourced from the finest wine and spirit producers worldwide. Each year's vintage is unique, and the Maiden 2022 blend consists of the following: 25% Bourbon / 17% Red Wine / 10% Banyuls / 5% Cognac / 5% Rum / 5% Scottish Whisky / 5% Tequila // 19% Maiden 10-hour boil / 9% Maiden 2023
Expectation: It’s amazing that this was the first beer Siren ever brewed and I love that they pay homage to it each year by iterating on the base beer to create a different blend. It is an absolute no brainer that this will be good - I mean, look at the barrels they used! Just a shame I only have one bottle.
Reality: Obviously this is fantastic. I can really taste the bourbon and red wine flavours in this which is great as I’m a big fan of both. It’s sweet and sticky and boozy and something to savour. It’s every bit of its 10% ABV but that’s no bad thing.
Is there a better pairing in life than barley wine and cheese? This goes great with a cheddar but would probably go even better with a blue cheese if I had any in the fridge.
Barley wine is life. 🤝
There you have it - an absolutely exemplary mixed case of beer to celebrate a decade of brewing from Siren. It’s still available on the website at the time of writing and I strongly recommend picking up a box.
