First published November 2007 as part of a piece about beers stocked by Booths supermarkets.
ABV: 6.8 per cent
Origin: Rock, Cornwall, England
Website www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk
Sharp's Chalky's Bite
If you’re a speciality bottled beer enthusiast, the chances are you’ll have heard of Booths Supermarkets even if you live a long way outside its Lancashire heartland. Under enthusiastic and knowledgeable beer buyer Dave Smith, this family-owned regional grocery chain has built a reputation for offering the best supermarket beer selection in Britain at prices that still meet and often beat those of the national giants.
Two years ago, CAMRA recognised Booths’ achievements by awarding it Best Retail Chain in the Real Ale in a Bottle Retailer awards. Earlier this year, industry colleagues concurred by naming it Multiple Beer Retailer of the Year in the Drinks Retailing Awards organised by trade publication Off License News. The judges spoke favourably of Booths’ ‘deep-rooted commitment to the beer category…not just using price promotions to drive sales but really adding value and excitement to their beer offering.’
The company now boasts almost 200 different British bottled ales plus imported specialities. Inevitably the majority are not Real Ale in a Bottle, but there’s a noticeably higher live yeast quotient than usual, and a good few hard-to-find lines – such as three bottle conditioned beers from Blackburn’s Three B’s (also selling locally through Threshers’ stores – see June’s Beer) and a newly added duo from 2007 Champion Beer of Britain medallist Wapping Brewery in Liverpool (see last month’s issue).
The selection reviewed below demonstrates the range of flavours on the current list, though note that none of the beers listed is exclusive – all are stocked by one or other national retailer. But you’ll be hard pressed to find them all in one place at bargain prices outside Booths’ 26 stores scattered between Keswick, Knutsford, Settle and Blackpool. And as the company’s online mail order wine business hasn’t yet been extended to beer, I for one am on the lookout for excuses for my next trip up the M6.
Sharp’s Chalky’s Bite has already enjoyed coverage elsewhere in Beer as a rare British attempt at a fine speciality beer to compete with Belgian imports on the dining table. It was created at award-winning Cornish micro Sharp’s by head brewer Stuart Howe at the behest of Padstow-based celebrity chef and seafood enthusiast Rick Stein, and named after Stein’s (subsequently deceased) Jack Russell terrier, who appears on the label.
Brewed from low colour Cornish Maris Otter barley malt, wheat malt and candy sugar, and hopped with Northdown for bitterness and Goldings for aroma, the beer is conditioned for two months at 0°C with Styrian Goldings and wild Cornish fennel seeds, then bottled with Belgian yeast and warm conditioned for a further two months before sale.
This elaborate recipe yields a rich glowing golden beer with a fine white head and a wheaty, spicy palate with subtle herb, citric and orange notes – I thought I smelt coriander but it’s not among the ingredients. The tangy palate, notably refreshing for such a strong beer, has unusual grassy mineral flavours and a certain sweetness dried by herbal and citric flavours.
Fennel registers subtly as the finish develops, alongside more mineral notes, finally quite peppery hops and sweetish fruit. This is an unusual and noteworthy beer, with obvious shades of a Belgian witbier but stronger, drier and more complex. It should go down a treat with seafood as intended but is also well worth sampling on its own.
More beers from Booths in next post.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/sharps-chalkys-bite/65068/
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