An extended review of a beer featured as a new real ale in a bottle on the bottled beer review page in the February 2011 issue of BEER magazine, sent free every quarter to CAMRA members, who can also view it online. The magazine is additionally available in selected newsagents.
ABV: 8.5%
Origin: Lowestoft, Suffolk, Engand
Website: www.green-jack.com
Green Jack Ripper
One of very many great breweries in the east of England, Green Jack is a well appreciated, award winning and commercially savvy cask ale brewer that’s recently started doing some interesting things with bottles. Tim Dunford and his wife and business partner Lee haven’t had an entirely smooth ride – their first brewery in Oulton Broad ceased trading eight years after opening in 1993, but they were soon back with a new one, behind Lowestoft’s Triangle Tavern, which claims to be the most easterly real ale pub in England. Early in 2009 they expanded to a much bigger standalone plant and are now one of the largest brewers in the region.
Tim has long been unafraid to offer stronger beers in cask besides the session regulars – his Ripper (8.5%) strong ale, a barley wine with a deliberate nod to Belgian tripels, is a renowned local award winner, and Baltic Trader Imperial Stout (10.5%) also appears intermittently on the bar. Both these are now available bottle conditioned in attractive 750ml flip top bottles with labels detailing not only the best before date but the dates when the beer was brewed and bottled.
Ripper seems to have taken to the bottle best. It’s a hazy blond beer with a fine orangey-white head and a citric, slightly minerally and sulphury aroma, tones of burnt rubber mixing incongruously with peaches and cream. A firm but dry palate has a grainy, roast quality with a herbal hint – I’m not sure if coriander was actually used but there’s a definite Belgian herbal flourish — and a distinct note of apricot jam. It’s fruity and very spicy, leading to a dry finish with more apricot, obvious alcohol and complex shifting spice textures. Rooty hops finally emerge on a long development – the brewery prides itself on generous use of whole hop cones and while there’s plenty of hop character here, it’s intriguing rather than overstated. Very decent.
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Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/green-jack-ripper/37914/
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