London beer tastings 2011. For more Brodie’s beers and more background to the brewery, see previous post.
ABV: 3.1%, 3.9% and 5.7%
Origin: Leyton, London E10, England
Website: brodiesbeers.co.uk
Brodie's Citra
Like the brewery’s Amarilla, Citra is a popular, refreshing and approachable beer featuring an especially fragrant new US hop. A cask sample I tasted at the (sadly no longer beer friendly) Palatine in Stoke Newington was pale yellow, with a fine white head and a low but hoppy aroma of citrus and malt. The dry and hoppy palate was citric, peppery and resinous with a pleasantly firm underlying malt character and hints of casky wood and iodine. A long peppery finish had soft malt and a big hoppy bite, with lingering orange pith character.
Proving the Brodies can also cut it in more traditional styles is their thoroughly decent session bitter, English Best, made to a conventional recipe of Maris Otter pale and crystal barley malt and Fuggles hops. Sampled on cask in the Old Coffee House, one of the brewery’s two West End tied pubs, this was amber with a just off-white and persistent bubbly head. A classic casky aroma had smooth toffee malt and light fruit. The palate was very fresh and malty with nuts, gentle citrus and a herbal bittering note, while a light, tasty finish develop spicy hoppy touches.
Olde Ardour, an old ale made with a dash of oat malt and a hop mix that includes Goldings, is one of my favourites of the brewery’s beers. I first had it on cask at the brewery’s home pub, the King William IV: a dark brown beer with ruby hints, some bubbly beige head and an inky, sappy, sweet, roasty and very fruity aroma. Dark malt flavours filled the mouth, with sappy roast notes and bitter chocolate, leaving a rich finish with lighter chocolate and roast, a slightly rubbery note and perhaps a hint of sourness.
A bottle conditioned version supplied by the brewery as part of a batch of tasting samples was better still: a deep cherryish brown beer with a thick yellowy-beige head. That rubber was still there on the aroma, alongside chocolate biscuits and nutmeg. The smooth, sappy palate had smooth chocolate, tangy fruit and a toasty, roasted, toffeeish note reminiscent of a dark Bockbier. The well conditioned beer still felt foamy on the tongue in the finish, which settled with roasty chocolate malt and an oily quality, and then built lasting chocolate orange and rooty bitter flavours.
For more Brodie’s beers see next post.
Read more about these beers at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/brodies/3911/
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