First published in BEER February 2009.
With real ale bucking the trend of decline in pubs, and with longer days and better weather on the way, it’s a good time to go evangelising among home drinkers looking beyond slabs of Stella. Back in the mid-80s cask ale brewers hoped to meet lager drinkers halfway by inventing golden ale, Britain’s first new beer style in many a decade, and a good few of these have found their way into bottle conditioned form.
Hop Back Summer Lightning (5 per cent, Salisbury, Wiltshire), one of the first golden ales, made an early and seamless transition into a Real Ale in a Bottle. It’s still well worth drinking as a refreshing but more complex alternative to a premium lager – pale gold with a white head and a fine bead, honeysuckle hops on the aroma, a crisp and zesty tangerine palate and a notably dry and long lingering finish.
While licensing of international lager brands is all too common, a US craft beer brewed under license by a UK brewery in a bottle conditioned version is probably unprecedented. High & Mighty Beer of the Gods (4.5 per cent) was planned by US beer importer Shelton Brothers as a cross between a Kölsch and an Altbier, with the original version contract brewed at Paper City brewery, Holyoke, Massachusetts. Now Hepworth of Horsham, Sussex is producing its own version for sale at Sainsburys. It’s a complex but refreshing delicate gold beer with lime-citrus fruit, a slight hint of olives and gin-like botanicals on a crisp malty palate and a hoppy, slightly flinty finish.
Imported wheat beers have assisted a good number of drinkers in developing the taste for ale, but there are some good home-grown ones too. O’Hanlon’s Double Champion (4 per cent, Whimple, Devon) is one of the best and most reliable – delicate gold with an alluring touch of Turkish Delight on the aroma, and lightly citric with some yeasty banana and vanilla hints.
Belgium is a rich source of golden ales often mistaken for lagers, but beers like Duvel- Moortgat Duvel (8.5 per cent, Breendonk, Flemish Brabant), despite their delicate colour and palate, have the fruity complexity of ales. Originally a dark beer lightened up to win a new audience, Duvel is a world classic, with distinct pear and lemon sherbet notes on the aroma, an oily, citric and seedy palate and pistachio in a drying, complex finish. The red label version widely available in British supermarkets is also bottle conditioned.
Finally, rather than trying to mimic the lager experience, it’s worth considering challenging expectations with something completely different. Cheddar Totty Pot ( 4.7 per cent) is one of new range of real ales in a bottle from this Somerset-based brewery – originally seasonal but hastily added to the regular range after competition success, it’s a full-on porter with cola, caramel, burnt rubber and sultana cake, a flavourful but still very approachable half litre. If smoky and intense Islay whiskies can win converts among people who think they don’t like Scotch, then beers like this might just shock some tastebuds into recognising a whole new world of flavour.
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