Great British Beer Festival 2011
ABV: 4.5%
Origin: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England
Website: www.littlevalleybrewery.co.uk
My day of sampling British cask beers at this year’s Great British Beer Festival turned out to be rather lacklustre, but one pleasant surprise was this tasty organic Belgian-style wheat beer from the South Pennines. The brewery also produces a range of bottle conditioned beers, although the bottled version of this seems notably less highly rated online than the cask.
The cloudy yellow beer has a white, relatively sparse head and a slightly varnishy, estery and very fresh aroma. Coriander is clearly detectable and there’s an orangey, slightly plasticy scent too. A light, refreshing and subtly aromatic palate has citrus, coriander, cream, wheat and a tangy slightly acidic quality, holding its spicy, orange-lemon zest well in the mouth. A long and tangy finish delivers a hint of aniseed. One of the best British cask interpretations of the style I’ve yet encountered.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/little-valley-hebdens-wheat/59600/
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