Golden Ales

Beer Review: Innes & Gunn Blonde

18/10/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle You need to be in a certain kind of mood to drink quality craft beer, I believe. Preferably, treat the bottle in isolation and never chew gum less than an hour beforehand! This is my view of Innes & Gunn’s line. They’re often so strong and rich that you can only take your time and enjoy the beer in perfect isolation. This was the case when I reviewed the Innes & Gunn Oak Aged Original and it was the same for the Innes & Gunn Blonde, which is matured in American oak barrels to impart a vanilla flavour. First up, it’s a very attractive colour indeed. It’s a rich Pilsneresque gold with a lager-like nose to it....

Beer review: Lemon Head by Nethergate Brewery

18/09/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle We return to the Sainsbury’s Great British Beer Hunt 2012 and to the Lemon Head by Suffolk’s Nethergate Brewery. Sainsbury’s PRs kindly sent me five of the 20 finalists to try out and the Lemon Head looked promising, not just because it reminded me of a band I saw in my 90s youth at the Reading Festival. Randomly, it actually looks and tastes like it should be called “Ginger Head”. The colour is golden treacle, quite clear and pleasing when held against the light. The head is zesty and citrusy. Maybe this is why it’s called Lemon Head, because that’s where the connection with aforementioned yellow citrus fruit starts and ends. It competes with malt in the...

Beer Review: Exmoor Gold

29/08/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Exmoor Ales claims to have invented the golden ale way back in 1986 with its classic Exmoor Gold. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get round to it, but I managed to find some in Cornwall recently and, good heavens, it’s every bit as good as I had hoped. It’s not just golden; it’s extremely pale, like a lager or corn colour stemming from its single malt ingredients. It has a bubbly head and a balanced fruit and sweet malt nose. The texture is nice and light too, not too heavy and very smooth. The all-important flavour is an orange marmalade taste, a lovely citrus tang which has everything in balance. The essentials: ABV:...

Beer Review: Hepworth’s Olympian

19/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle With the Olympic brand police in overdrive I’m surprised this one got through but Sussex brewer Hepworth has celebrated this special British summer with a celebratory double header, the Olympian and the Diamond. I’m doing them in reverse chronological order by taking on the lighter Olympic celebratory tipple, the 2.5% Olympian. It’s golden – very pale amber indeed, in fact – and has very little in the way of a nose. Taste-wise it’s chewy, a little malty from the eight malts used in the mix, and not really a great deal of hoppiness. There’s a little yeast flavour in there. It’s extremely quaffable and refreshing, if a little light in flavour. I can’t resist an Olympics pun,...

Beer Review: Crouch Vale’s Amarillo

08/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Here’s a brewery I’d not heard of previously – Crouch Vale, from Chelmsford in Essex. Once more, I came across it and its lovely golden ale Amarillo at The Cask in Pimlico, London, and I presume it’s named after the rare and delightful Amarillo aromatic hop from the USA. It’s a fairly regulation golden ale colour, but the aroma stands out in this one: grapefruit and lychee dominate a light nose but definitely come through in the taste. It’s got a good bitter-sweet balance and is fairly light bodied and refreshing. That exotic fruit taste lingers at the back of the tongue for a fair while and I must admit it repeats well! It’s a really sessionable...

Beer Review: Mary Jane by Ilkley Brewery

09/06/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle My tour of the north of England continued this week as I prepared for the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge with a couple of pints at Otley’s Old Cock. It was here that I was introduced to local beer maker Ilkley Brewery’s Mary Jane. It’s an American Pale Ale style with a lovely golden colour and frothy, zesty head. It’s a little like Guinness in the way it clears – slow and enticing. Ilkley pumped up the content of the popular Amarillo hop for this one, giving it a grapefruit and lychee nose. It looks great and smells great. It’s pretty tangy in taste, too. Smooth, fruity, light and very quick to disappear, Ilkley Brewery’s Mary Jane is...

Beer Review: Canterbury Jack by Shepherd Neame

26/05/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle I’ve not touched my home county brewer of Shepherd Neame for a while but it’s a hot old summer and I need some refreshment. Hence I opted for the Canterbury Jack from the Faversham brewer. Those familiar with Shepherd Neame will recognise the Neame-esque nose as soon as you that familiarly shaped bottle. I imagine it’s the yeast strain. The Canterbury Jack uses Kent-grown East Kent Goldings and even local Cascade hops, usually found in the US. That means citrus aromas, which is perfect for New World pale ale styles. The hop flavour wins throw, although there’s a battle royal on the tongue with the crystal malts. It’s light to medium-bodied and fairly refreshing and tasting notes...

Beer Review: Iceberg by Titanic Brewery

06/03/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle “Iceberg! Right ahead!” Yes, it’s in my hand and it’s an Iceberg beer from the Titanic Brewery of Staffordshire. I’m really impressed by Titanic’s line, although the only one I’ve reviewed hitherto was its froth-tastic Engine Room. All Titanic’s brews are linked to the famous ship and if you’re wondering why such an inland brewer has a connection to the Titanic it’s because Captain Smith was also from the Potteries. Iceberg is a “clear English wheat beer” and is possibly the palest ale I’ve ever drank. It’s a multiple award-winning beer and is certainly unique. It’s got a subtle fruit nose, like gooseberry, but the taste is all citrus. It reminded me of a zesty, liquid lemon...

Beer Review: Sunburst by Dark Star

03/03/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s been a while since I did my video ‘pubcast’ from the Evening Star pub in Brighton, the home of Dark Star Brewing. I didn’t get round to the company’s golden ale Sunburst, which is available on tap from May-August but in bottles all year round. Sunburst is a zesty summer number and it’s one I’ll make sure I revisit this summer. It’s an effervescent, straw-coloured golden with a hoppy, grapefruit nose which follows through to the taste. There are exotic fruits in the taste too, making for an all-round citrus experience. In fact, it reminds me a lot of a less intense version of the Citra by Oakham Ales. Very pleasant indeed with the distinctive hoppiness...

Beer Review: St Peter’s Golden Ale

01/03/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s been a year or so since I recorded my first The Guest Ale podcast at the Jerusalem Tavern, a pub in London’s Clerkenwell area owned by Suffolk brewer St Peter’s. So a review of a St Peter’s beer is well overdue and here it is – St Peter’s Golden Ale. Using English pale malts and Challenger and Goldings hops to give some bitterness and aroma, the result is – unsurprisingly – a very fulsome golden ale. It’s not as light as you’d maybe expect, but a very pleasant experience overall. Pouring from that distinctive, medicinal old-style bottle, the Golden Ale fizzes into life and, although the head soon disperses, the carbonation injects a freshness to the...

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