Innis & Gunn are one of those breweries that divides opinion, some love their beers, others can’t stand them, for me it’s probably the best beer that Innis & Gunn have produced, with the Canadian Cask coming a very close second, although I now find the original Innis & Gunn a little bit too sweet especially if it’s not super cold.

Highland casks you say?

Innis & Gunn Higland Cask  is the the latest in a long line of Innis & Gunn special editions has been matured in oak barrells that were previously used to mature 18 year old single malt Scotch whisky from the Highlands of Scotland.

The beer pours a lovely dark amber colour (nearly as dark as the rum version) with a really thick frothy head. There’s huge sweet vanilla pod on the nose and a little bit of alcohol.

In the mouth it’s unmistakably Innis & Gunn, but it wasn’t as sweet as I expected, it was almost like drinking vanilla fudge with hints of wood, some lemon zest and a little bit of whisky, there was a bit of bitterness at the end balance it out.

Dougal recommends it with, black pudding or haggis, roasted venison or rib of Angus beef,  and apparently cheese lovers will find it a great match for hard goats’ and cows’ cheeses and pickles….. I tend to agree. I’ve got a recipe somewhere for steak soaked in Innis & Gunn which is delicious and I’m quite tempted to try it with this version.

Innis & Gunn Highland Cask Edition comes in an a lovely green box, retails for £2.50 per 330ml bottle and hit the shelves of Sainsburys last week.

Melville’s is a new arm of Innis & Gunn and is the brainchild of Douglal Sharp who wanted to show off what he called some of the best fruit in the world and create a new summer thirst quencher.

The beers use the juice of freshly pressed Scottish Raspberries or Strawberries which is supplied by Ella Drinks. The beer is based on a lager brewed by Innis and Gunn and is then blended with the cold fruit juice.

New fruit beer from Innis and gunn

Being the gentleman that I am I shared both beers with my other half, as she’s a big fan of fruit beers but tends to like them a little sweeter than I do, though not too sweet or sickly.

First up was the Strawberry version, there’s no hiding the colour of the beer, it’s clearly visible through the clear glass bottle (one of my pet hates) It pours quite flat and didn’t really have a head. It smells distinctly Innis and Gunn with a sweet strawberry aroma…kind of what I expected.

The carbonation was quite light and by no means flat, to me it tasted a bit like a strawberry boiled sweet (specifically those old Rancher sweets) which then had a bitter twang followed by a really sweet aftertaste. The strawberry was a lot more pronounced that I thought it would be and after smelling it I certainly didn’t expect the bitterness.

Personally I found it too sweet, it also developed a strange flavour as it warmed up as a result I didn’t manage to drink the rest of my glass but my other half quite happily finished it off.

The Raspberry version

Next up was the Raspberry beer, it was a slightly different colour as you’d expect, again it smelled mainly of the fruit but less of Innis and Gunn and generally less beery.

The flavour is predominantly slightly bitter raspberry followed by sweeter malt to balance it out, there’s also a hint of red grape juice in there too. It’s no where near as sweet as the strawberry one and and tastes more like real raspberries that the strawberry one did of strawberries. The bitterness at the end is a little bit more pronounced and doesn’t go into the sweet after taste.  it also didn’t seem to develop the strange flavour as it warmed up which is definitely a bonus.

We both agreed that this was by far the better of the two beers and one we would happily buy for a summer thirst quencher but whilst it’s a tasty drink it’s not quite on par with the fruit based offerings from our Belgian cousins.

While the press release was an interesting read, I’m not sure I agreed with all of the comments in it, mainly because I am a massive fan of Belgian fruit beers and Lambics and some of the comments seemed to be having a dig at them and their packaging. Also I’m not sure any beer should ever be served over ice.

The beer is being sold through Tesco’s at £1.59 for the 250ml bottle and doesn’t seem to have a website.

It’s been specially released for Fathers Day on June 19th and is on sale now in Tesco for a very reasonable £2.50 per bottle.

It comes in its own distinctive bright blue box, which if your as cack handed as me makes it easy to wrap. It comes in at 7.2% ABV and has been triple matured then aged for 99 days in Oak casks.

A great addition to any fathers day present.

Unfortunately I broke my latest Innis and Gunn Glass so I had to dig out my old school gold rimmed one, which is cool but a little bit top heavy.

The beer poured a chestnut brown with a lovely deep red tinge with a very thin head.

There’s lots of sweet toffee and brown sugar on the nose with a little bit of woody oak (the press release said a whiff of hops but I didn’t get any of those.)

It’s incredibly smooth in the mouth. there’s not a huge amount of carbonation but it’s not flat either. It tastes quite sweet but not overly sweet, i got quite a lot of roast coffee which I wasn’t expecting and there’s a big vanilla kick too it and a slightly dried fruit cake taste. There’s some definite oak there and a little bit of hop bitterness comes through but not much.

In all honestly It’s a tasty beer, I still prefer the Canadian Cask version but this comes a close second in the Innis and Gunn range for me. I just wish they would get rid of the clear bottles as even though I love the box I’m not a fan of the clear glass at all.

You can follow Innis and Gunn on Twitter, check them out on Facebook here or visit their website here.

So when I recieved the press release below, I’ll admit I wasn’t as excited as I once would have been, but it’s something that I’m cerntainly going to see if I can find in a pub near me, just to see how it compares to the beer I onced loved. I dare say the beer hasn’t changed it’s just my tastebuds progressing and moving away from sweeter beers.

I know Innis and Gunn have a lot of haters but they also have a huge following and I quite often see people buying in the supermarket so if the draught version has the same effect in pubs and gets people trying beer then it surely has to be a good thing.

Innis & Gunn Original Oak-Aged beer launches for the first time on draught

Award-winning independent Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn, is launching Innis & Gunn Original on draught for the first time. This flavourful, iconic beer will be sold in beautiful branded Innis & Gunn glasses in bars and pubs throughout the UK from January 2011.

Innis & Gunn is known for its range of hand-crafted, oak-aged beers in bottle: Innis & Gunn Original, Blonde, Rum Cask, IPA and its limited editions. This is the first time the Original will be available on draught. It will be launched in several outlets in and around Edinburgh pre-Christmas with the official launch taking place next year.

Crawford Sinclair, Innis & Gunn’s UK Director of Sales comments: “Until now Innis & Gunn has only been sold in bottles, however growing demand, particularly in the on-trade has lead to several requests from bar staff for Innis & Gunn Original to be made available on draught. With the growth of interest in Craft beers in bars we feel that the time is right to release this special beer in keg.

“We are very excited about this launch because it brings Innis & Gunn to the front of the bar – prime real estate for brand building – and allows greater numbers of craft beer fans to sample our delicious beer for the first time.”

“We will be providing bar support to help launch the beer on draught, including staff training and provision of Innis & Gunn branded, lined, half-pint glasses. We recommend serving the beer in these specially designed glasses to concentrate the vanilla, malt and toffee aromas for which Innis & Gunn is renowned. We are delighted that consumers can now experience the same complexity of flavour straight from the
tap.”

The pack contains 1 bottle of Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer, 1 Bottle of Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Aged Beer, 1 Bottle of Innis & Gunn IPA and 1 Innis & Gunn fluted 1/2 pint glass.  It retails at £8 and I have been informed that it is currently included in the 3 for 2 offer in Sainsburys.

It’s all very nicely boxed, the box is quite sturdy and is packed with info about the beers and Innis  & Gunn, click the pictures below to see bigger versions.

It comes with a handy leaflet telling you how to achieve the “Perfect Pour” something I tried, and have recorded it, you can watch it below, I didn’t quite achieve it despite the rather good instructions, I guess the beer was just a bit too lively.

I drank all of the beers tonight as I thought it would be rude not to, it also gave me chance to compare the 3 beers side by side just like I did in my big Innis & Gunn taste test a few months back.

My opinion on the Oak Aged beer and Rum Cask beer hasn’t changed – the Original Oak Aged has a lovely toffee sweet scent with a hint of vanilla, it’s lovely and light for something so strong, The Rum Cask smelled and tasted of Rum, it was sweet and Malty and perfect for this time of year.

Now onto the main attaction, the NEW IPA, The description on the bottle and in the info I was sent said it’s matured for 55 days and weighed in at 7.7% it boasted a beer that was rich with spice, herbal hops, and malt intensity, with subtle vanilla and citrus notes on the finish.

I was expecting something similar to the oak aged ale but with loads more hops, but in truth I didn’t really notice the hops, it was quite sweet, a bit sweeter than the other 2 beers. The first few sips didn’t blow me away, in fact I was a little disappointed, after all I have been drinking some pretty amazing IPA’s of late (Adnams Innovation, Thornbridge Jaipur and Halycon and Crown UIPA to mention a few). I think IPA is one of those terms that will divide opinion, it’s been discussed many times so I wont go into it now.

It pours the same as the other bottles so the consistency is there as you would expect from a brand like Innis & Gunn, it’s quite lively so you get a great head which lasts all the way down the glass. You get lots of interesting aromas, there is definitely a hint of wood, vanilla, caramel and a little bit of spice.

The pack says to chill for 4 hours or more, but I found the flavour improved as the beer warmed up, the sweetness seemed to mellow and enhance the other flavours.

It’s quite a complex beer, it’s fruity, spicy and sweet, the sweetness comes from vanilla and butterscotch flavour, there is also a fairly big bit of citrus in there too.

Although this post may seem a bit negative, it’s not meant to be, I would love to get one of these packs as a present, the IPA is an interesting beer which will divide opinion but I can’t help think I & G have missed a trick, their Canadian Cask is still my favourite and it’s not on general sale in the UK.

If you are an Innis & Gunn fan then it is definitely worth buying. I’m off out to get a couple of packs in Sainsburys for Christmas presents for a couple of mates that love I & G so look forward to their opinions.

Here are a few more images to wet your appetite (click on them to make them bigger.)

So i dug out my Innis and Gunn Glass and set to work

Innis and Gunn Taste Test

Bottle 1 – Innis and Gunn Blonde – 6% – lightly oak matured for 37 days

I thought i would start with this one as it was the lightest, not only in colour but in ABV, but it still weighs in at a pretty hefty 6%. The beer poured really well with a pretty decent head, it didn’t really smell of much although there was a slight oak waft. The beer tasted very light with quite a hoppy but sweet taste, not quite as flavoursome as the original.

Bottle 2 – Innis and Gunn Original – 6.6% – oak matured for 77 days

This is usually a staple of my beer drinking, it’s a great beer and i love it to bits, it has a lovely toffee sweet scent with a hint of vanilla, it’s lovely and light for something so strong, it has caramel and oak notes throughout the glass, it holds its head well (even if over chilled), it’s rich and full of flavour and one of those beers that should be drank often.

Innis and Gunn Bottles

Bottle 3 – Innis and Gunn Canadian Cask – 7.1% – oak matured for 71 days (ltd edition – Canada Only)

Slightly darker and stronger than the classic Innis and Gunn, it smells quite sweet, a little bit of sugar and hint of wood chips (i must be crazy), it’s maybe a little smoother than the classic and tastes quite smokey and malty with a slight twist of something at the end that i can’t quite put my finger on, there isn’t a whisky flavour like classic and it is a bit richer than both the classic and blonde. I really liked it, bit of a shame it’s not available in the UK as i would certainly buy it if it was.

Bottle 4 – Innis and Gunn Rum Cask – 7.4% – oak matured for 107 (ltd edition)

The final bottle in my 4 was also kindly sent to me  by  R&R Teamwork (thanks guys and gals) , This one as the name says was matured in a Rum Cask. It was the darkest and strongest of the 4 beers, i could definitely smell the rum im the beer when i poured it, along with some wood.  I could also taste the rum in the beer but it wasn’t overpowering, it was however quite Sweet and malty with a little bit of citrus and nut (or i could just be imagining the nut).

I feel that this is possibly the one of the 4 that i wouldn’t drink as much of, as much as i liked it, it was maybe just a bit too sweet.

So overall even thought the beers are all quite similar they also have their own characteristics, the Canadian Cask is a definite winner (lets hope they do something similar for the UK Market) , The blonde is great for a session (a rather expensive one) The Rum is possible more for Christmas and the classic is a great beer cupboard staple.

In the past im sure i also picked up an Innis and Gunn in a blue box that from what i remember was also ltd edition and had been aged for over 100 days…unfortunately that’s about all i can remember and i can’t find the photo or notes on it.

Once again many thanks to R&R Teamwork check out their website here also check out the Innis and Gunn website here

The description reads as though it is brewed as a lighter variation on the original and that is largely how it tastes. The oak is easy to pick out in the aroma with hints of fruit/vanilla, it smells great! The head was thin, bubbly and slightly off white.

The beer is very smooth and full of flavour, although not quite as full as the original. I definitely enjoyed it, the Vanilla is less noticeable in the taste which is more fruity and sweet than I had expected and the wood comes back through in the finish.

Overall it is very well rounded, but I prefer the original, as it’s a more interesting beer. Definitely one worth trying.

We just happened to be having a Chinese at the time which didn’t really suit this. I can see myself reaching for it in the colder months to go with a hotpot or a casserole.

I was also watching Tron on DVD at the time, which is a great accompaniment to any beer!

Author: Scott Edwards