This beer featured in BEER May 2011 as part of a piece on the influence of different malts on beer flavour. To read about other beers featured see Hopshackle Historic Porter.
ABV: 5.3%
Origin: Aberhonddu, Powys, Cymru
Website: www.breconshirebrewery.com
Breconshire Winter Beacon
The qualities of speciality malts aren’t limited to darker beers and can be put to all sorts of unexpected uses by creative brewers. Just to challenge expectations, Wales’ Breconshire Winter Beacon (5.3 per cent) is a golden ale with an unexpectedly whiskyish note and a definite charcoal hint on the finish – the signature of a dose of black malt added by imaginative head brewer Buster Grant. A small quantity of black treacle adds to the fun, alongside Optic pale malt and various varieties of UK hops.
This winter seasonal is mid-gold and copperish with a reddish tinge and a low pinky off-white head. Autumn fruit, honey and flowers alongside that whisky note make for an attractive aroma. The firm, slightly winy and syrupy, palate has sweetish raspberry and blackcurrant fruit with a dark malt bite. The lightly warming finish has some pursing hops, complex fruit, a touch of sourness and a sprinking of charcoal. A modestly individual beer.
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Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/breconshire-winter-beacon/28886/
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