Before things got too heavy..

For me it was meant to be a quick stop off for a pint on the way back up north, but one thing lead to another and I ended up spending the day there.

We worked out way through many of the great beers the tap has to offer,  including Thornbridge Jaipur, Meantime IPA, Thornbridge Wild Swan,Thornbridge St Petersburg, Thornbridge Raven, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, All of the Moor beers (Half & Half, Millys, Northern Star, JJJ IPA, Old Freddy Walker, Hoppiness, Somerland Gold, Ported Peat Porter, Peat Porter, Merlins Magic and Revival)  from the various taps and hand pulls situated on the huge bar. We also got a quick tour of the cold room where Yan stores all his precious wares, including a rather impressive range of bottles and glasses. It was here when Stu spotted a keg of Sierra Nevada BigFoot Ale that things really started to get a little messy.

Some of the beer we had already drank wasn’t exactly “weak”, JJJ for example is 9% ABV,  but BigFoot was that next step up, which on a Sunday afternoon and surrounded by all the beer you could ever need, in great company is, well,  a little bit on the crazy side. If Stu had gotten his way, none of us would have got a look in,  thankfully he was in a sharing mood and distributed the beer around the table. This was the first time I had had BigFoot on keg and it was mind blowing, bitter sweet, perfectly balanced malt and big hops, yum yum yum.

Stu and BigFoot

Then from somewhere a couple of bottles appeared on the table, these included a Thornbridge Murmansk, Westvleteren 8, Hardknott Granite and a couple of unlabeled bottles of Matthews home brewed beers, which were meant for Yan to take home but as ever he played the generous host and cracked them open. The Westvleteren was a bit of a gusher, not being one to waste beer, a certain member of the group decided to slurp it off the table, to be honest he had the right idea as its a bloody good beer and doesn’t come cheap.

However this wasn’t the silliest thing that particular member of the group did that afternoon, as he got up to go and catch his train he decided to perform a party trick of his, which is apparently staring to happen more often and proceeded to smash a bottle of Stuart Howe’s Chilli IPA all over the floor of the tap, this not being bad enough he then sucked some of the splash back from his trainer, which resulted in some rather odd looks from others in the pub.

Thornbridge Raven on top form

One by one the group dwindled and it was soon time for me to hop back on the train  and head home, I just wish I had left time for some food as an afternoon on strong beer after a full day of drinking during Twissup started to take effect, to put it bluntly I was bolloxed.

I had wicked day despite constant ribbing from Matt about my accent, it’s just as well his homebrews were pretty damn good and he also has a wicked sense of humour which lead to a couple of texts to our lass saying I wouldn’t be home any time soon as I had been arrested.

All the beers I drank were in tip top condition, really well kept and the range of beer available is simply stunning and is due to get bigger very soon. They all easily surpassed the bottled versions of the beers I had. I just wish I could get beer this good locally.

Big thanks to Yan for being so hospitable, Kelly and Scoop for sharing their knowledge and passion and to Matt and Stu for making me laugh more than I have in ages, hope to do it again very soon.

Please forgive the name dropping above,  it’s not often I get to drink in such illustrious company (outside of Twissup that is) They were/are a great bunch of guys who know their stuff.

You can view my pics from the day here

Deep, dark and delicious

As is usual with the sample bottles Stu sends the bottles were absent proper labels, he did send the image file so I could make my own but I made a hash of it so as you will see in the photo I just stood it up next to the beer.

The beer opened with a nice hiss, so it was off to a promising start, it poured extremely dark, almost completely pitch black. It had a thin to medium head that was a really lovely caramel colour.

The aromas were of really roasted malt, hints of smoke, chocolate and coffee, yum!

In the mouth it was medium bodied with a nice amount of carbonation, as a result it felt silky smooth.

The flavour was lovely, deep, dark roasted malt, wafts of chocolate and coffee intermingle with the malt giving it a lovely sweetness there’s also a slight liquorice flavour in the background this all leads to a lovely clean roast almost finish. I didn’t quite get the smokiness I originally put in my phone so maybe I was a little bit worse for wear after all.

In all honesty this is a really, really good stout, Stu has pulled it off and it’s bottled really well. I might use some of the other bottle for steak and ale pie, I have a feeling the big roast flavour will go brilliantly with some mushrooms and steak.

If you want to try it then you can buy it here, you can visit the Crown website here, Follow Stu here, visit the facebook page here or read my other Crown Brewery beer reviews here.

Before I drank and photographed them a little bit of Blue Peter magic was needed, I managed to get a copy of the label from Stu via email, printed and cut it out, unfortunately I didn’t have any sticky back plastic or prit stick so had to make some double sided tape out of bog standard sellotape. As it happens it worked out quite well and My Brewery Tap are even using one of the pics on their site!

Crown Wheat Beer, perfect spring supping!

Anyway enough of that and onto the beer, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as Stu hadn’t told me much, what I did know was that the contents of the bottle came close to Wheetie Bits or Wheat Stout then Stu was on to a winner.

The beer opened with a slight fizz and poured a lovely light golden colour, it had a small thin head and the beer had a slight haze, common to almost all wheat beers, I took more care pouring the second bottle and it came out a little bit clearer, so if you prefer a clearer beer – pour more carefully.

The aromas are typical of a German wheat beer, hints of banana and peach combine with a bready yeasty smell to produce something that smells rather delicious.

The mouth feel is silky and smooth and the carbonation is low, meaning it slips down and absolute treat, you barely notice the 5.9% ABV, The flavour is subtle yet tasty, fruity, hints of sweetness with a well rounded bready characteristic all finished off my a slightly bitter and moreish finish.

Hat’s off to Stu , this is really a tasty beer, it could possibly do with a little more carbonation but it is perfect for sitting in the garden with some spiced BBQ pork on a warm spring evening.

Crown Wheat Beer comes in 330ml bottles and retails at around £2.50 per bottle, yes thats a little more expensive than your average supermarket Wheat Beer, but  this is a hand crafted beer and knocks spots off the stuff in the supermarket.

You can follow Stu on Twiter here, read his blog here, visit the crown website here or buy his wonderful beers on My Brewery Tap

The 3 beers awaiting opening

I also had a couple of other IPA’s kicking around in the cupboard but in order to keep things simple I decided just to add just one more to this battle royale, this came in the form of Crown Brewery‘s excellent and often underrated Unpronounceable IPA.

I nagged Emily into trying to pour each beer the same, washing and drying the glass (My new favourite Duvel Glass) between beers and to make sure I didn’t know what was in each glass,  so that I was completely in the dark and couldn’t make judgements based on what I thought of the brands or brewers.

Beer number one arrived, it was light golden with a thin, pale white head, the lack of aroma took me by surprise, I was expecting something bigger and bolder on the nose, there were hints of citrus, hops and a little spice, but they were all really faint and it took me a while to pick them out.

The body was light and smooth, flavour wise it was quite and peachy there were hints of tropical fruit, nothing huge, as the beer warmed the malt came through as did a little caramel. The finish was hoppy and bitter, the bitterness lasted ages. I plumped for this one being Brewdog‘s Punk IPA.

Once finished, Emily kindly washed the glass out and poured mystery beer number 2.

The first thing I noticed about this beer was that it’ head was a lot bigger and frothy. It was a similar colour to beer number 1 but maybe a touch darker.

The aromas were of a fair bit stronger than beer number 1, citrusy hops, some pine and really strangely some caramel popcorn.

Flavour wise the hops come first, citrusy, bold and grassy then the caramel malt comes in, this again becomes more prominent as the beer warms up and where I think the caramel popcorn in the aromas came from. The finish is a lot less bitter than beer number one, smoother and more refined, this makes it mega drinkable. I put this down as Jaipur.

Perfect day for drinking Jaipur, Punk and UIPA

Emily then cleaned and dried the glass again and poured beer number 3.

It was a bit cloudier and a darker amber than the previous two beers, the head was huge and a really tight foam. The aromas were boozy, fruity and a little bit yeasty.

Flavour wise there was grapefruit, hops a hint of sweetness and touches of malt, the finish was hoppy and bitter, the bitterness was somewhere between beer 1 and 2, not quite as bitter as the first but slightly more bitter than the 3rd, process of elimination and familiarity had this one nailed as Unpronounceable IPA.

So out of the three and without knowing which was really which, I marked number 2 down as my favourite followed by number 3 and then number 1, I loved just how drinkable beer number 2 was and how really well balanced it was, it was a beer I could drink all night every night.

Emily then revealed which beer was which, I’ve put them below with a bit of information about each and where to get them so if you want to give the blind tasting a go you can get your hands on some beer.

Beer Number 1: Brewdog Punk IPA, 6%, £1.49 per 330ml bottle, available from the Brewdog website, Tesco and Sainsbury follow James on twitter, follow Martin on twitter or follow Bracken on twitter here.

Beer Number 2: Thornbridge Jaipur, 5.9%, £2.00 per 330ml bottle, available from My brewery tap and selcted Tesco stores, visit the Thornbridge website here or follow Kelly on twitter here

Beer Number 3: Crown Unpronounceable IPA, 7%, £2.50 per 330ml bottle, available from My brewery tap, visit the Crown Brewery website here or follow Stu on twitter here.

Smokin Oktoberfest is  Crown Brewery‘s take on a seasonal Oktoberfest beer so it is only produced once a year and only in small batches. It comes in at 5.7% ABV so I was expecting it to have a fair bit of flavour.

Smokin Oktoberfest

Once I had mopped up the spillage I got to check how the beer had poured, it was a lovely rich dark reddy brown colour with a rather large head, which disappeared as I poured more beer into the glass.

The aromas certainly live up to the smoke in the name, it really does smell of a lovely sweet smoke, like the smoke you get when you BBQ beer soaked meat and the marinade drips onto the hot coals. You also get bags of malt with a hint of booze creeping through, Interesting stuff in deed.

Flavour wise there was a lot of malt which was then bathed in bitter sweet smoke that cleansed the malt away leaving a lovely bitter aftertaste that had just a hint of the smoke that had preceded it. I drank the beer at room temperature and did wonder how the beer would react to being chilled, I have a feeling that this might be one of those beers that may benefit from being slightly chilled and may add another dimension to it, I will report back once I’ve got some more to try it with (this might not be until later in the year though)

Smokin Oktoberfest isn’t a beer I could drink lots of but it is a beer I will drink again, It shows just how diverse the Crown Brewery is and all credit to Stu for coming up with such a splendid beer.

Read my reviews on their other beers here, Visit the Crown Brewery website , follow Stu on twitter here or join their Facebook group

You will no doubt read many reports of what did and didn’t happen between 11:00 on Saturday 23rd and 17:30 on Sunday 24th January 2010, these will more than likely differ from blogger to blogger, but one thing I think know they will all have in common is that everyone had a fantastic time (well, apart from Mark at Real-Real-Ale-Reviews – who was maybe feeling a little guilty over “keygate” – you can read his version of events here).

What a bunch of twissers

The epic began just after 11:00 when I arrived, after a rather crappy train journey, at The Sheffield Tap, a rather fancy new pub based at Sheffield station, which over the weekend was to almost become our second home.  While I waited for other bloggers to turn up I quietly sat in the corner of the bar, slowly supping a rather delicious glass of Thornbridge Kipling, this was the start of  what, will one day surely become a pub crawl that is etched into blogging legends or as someone mentioned on twitter, become the face of a new alcohol awareness campaign.

Just as I supped the last fruity and hoppy mouthful of my Kipling, Steve  aka Aletalk wandered across and asked if I was Chilli Up North, perfect timing – it was now his round.

Before either of us had finished our beers (I had a Thornbridge White Swan and I think Steve went for their Lord Marples) Dave and Ann appeared, they’d been in Sheffield since Friday as they had a long way to come from the Woolpack, as the beers went down, more and more bloggers were appearing as their trains pulled into the station, before we knew it the place was packed, people had really pulled out all the stops, coming from far and wide to meet their fellow twissheads!

After a few more beers were sank, travel stories shared and gifts exchanged (beers/chilli seeds/some rather lovely glasses from Alex at All Beer) we were shepherded outside for a quick photo, before heading off to the next stop on the Twissup Map.

In truth a certain person who shall remain nameless took us on a slightly longer route that detoured by the Harlequin pub, after a couple of swift halves in there we moved on to the Kelham Island Brewery where we had the rather delicious Marble Brew 14 and a whistle stop tour of the brewery before heading to the Kelham Island Tavern for some Thornbridge Samhain, Milton Marcus Aurelius and one of my beers of the day Brew Co Pete‘s Ginger Stout.

Ruination in the Devonshire Cat

Next on the agenda was a tour of the Sheffield Brewery, a couple of beers in there and a chat with them guys before onto the Hillsborough Hotel, where we were subjected, sorry treated to a brewery tour by Crown Brewer Stu, here we supped more beer, had a hastily arranged beer swap and I got to watch Ring of Fire 2009 being tapped, this is the beer I helped Stu brew and used my home grown chillis in. It seemed to go down really well, Mark Dredge has even given it his beer of the day (WHOOP).

The atmosphere in the Hillsborough was possibly the best of the day, great banter, great beers (including Thornbridge Equinox and Crown Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale)

From here we split into two groups, some went to watch 22 fellas kicking a ball around a pitch and the rest of us headed via various modes of public transport to The Rising sun for a couple of beers and some much needed sarnies, Kelly from Thornbridge‘s competitive side came out here when he scoffed the majority of the tray of sarnies that myself and Pete B found on our table.

Our stomach’s thinly lined with sarnies we headed down the the Devonshire Cat, here we found the awesome Stone Ruination IPA on, it wasn’t cheap at £2.80 for half a pint but it really was worth the money, here I also tried my first non beer drink since breakfast, a rather tasty rum that was packed full of vanilla and nougat flavours (thanks to Brew Co Pete for letting me try that)

It was now getting to the time were some unfortunate people had to get the train home so we headed back to the The Sheffield Tap where yet more ale was consumed from both cask and bottle, This included Hop-it, Tokyo*, Jaipur and various other beers and beer styles.

Twissup on the tram

Once we had waved those unlucky few off we went in search of food, somehow we ended up in a kebab shop that resembled a fancy dress shop, which sold a strange array of battered products which were mainly thrown in the bin.

Those of us that were staying at the Hillsborough headed back there, where a certain person broke someone else’s key in the door, leading to a few room changes and a lot of ribbing for Mark at Real-Real-Ale-Reviews and a rather funny (if inconvenient) end to day one.

Day two started with most of us feeling a little worse for wear, this being helped by the brilliant breakfast served up at the Hillsborough before packing our bags and heading off to see Zak Avery in Leeds.

Zak had very kindly arranged for a pin of experimental beer from local brewer Roosters to be waiting for us at his shop, It was delicious and just what we needed to get the day’s drinking started, although I think it may have sent Pete B over the edge. I think everyone bought a few beers from Zak which is almost impossible not to do.

Next off we headed off in the Wooliemobile to North Bar in Leeds, for yet more ale and some great cheese made by the bloke from blur who used to drink rather a lot of booze in his wilder years…quite fitting and bloody delicious, this was quickly followed by a couple more rounds of cheese and bread and meat and bread, all pubs should do this, it’s a fantastic way to soak up the booze.

Up next was some Sam Smith’s OBB in a rather unfriendly pub hidden down a back alley, promptly followed by an Ilkley Brewery Mary Jane before myself, Pete B and Mark D headed for our train back to Sheffield, luckily on arrival back in Sheffield we had time for one last pint in the The Sheffield Tap, I went for Kipling again, It seemed fitting that the beer I had first should also be my last.

Picking up my rather heavy bag and my rather horrible burger I headed for the most depressing and disgusting train I have ever been on and headed home…

Thanks to all that turned up, chatted, drank, swapped beer, gave gifts and organised treats and tours along the way, I will be sure to raise my next glass of beer to you, although that might not be for some time..

Thanks to steelrazor for taking some awesome pics, You can view my photos of the event here and some other pics in the Twissup flickr group

Ps for those of you interested the beers that I remembered to log as I drank were: Thornbridge Kipling, Thornbridge White Swan, Thornbridge Lord Marples, Brewdog Black Dog, Tiger Tops Ginger, Abbeydale Genesis, Marble Brew 14,Thornbridge Samhain, Milton Marcus Aurelius, Brew Co Ginger Stout, Kelham Island Pale Rider, Sheffield Five Rivers, Sheffield Paradise Pale, Thornbridge Equinox, Crown Ring of Fire 2009, Crown Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale, Burton Tweetie Pie, Thornbridge Jaipur, Brewdog Tokyo*, Brewdog Punk IPA, Brewdog 5Am Saint, Brewdog Equity For Punks, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Sierra Nevada Anniversary, Stone Ruination IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale ale, Urthel Hop It, Roosters Experimental, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Ilkley Mary Jane, Sam Smith’s OBB and various sips of other peoples beers of all sorts of styles.

Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale is named after the original brewer and is a regular at the Hillsborough Hotel, where I know Stu the brewer, drinks a fair bit of this stuff after work…in fact I have borrowed one of his post work photos to use on here, as it was better than my poorly poured and photographed effort.

The beer comes in at 5.1%, this makes it ideal for an evening pint or two but possibly not for lunchtime drinking. It pours quite a pale yellow, with a bit of sediment from the bottle (this wasn’t present in the hand pull in the pic), It smells of malt and has a certain floweriness to it with hints of dough or yeast, the head is quite thin and slightly bubbly.

Taste wise it’s light and refreshing, slightly bitter, slightly hoppy and then you get the floral notes and some malty sweetness before the bitter and dry finish.

Personally I think this makes for a rather tasty ale, not quite as punchy and raw as UIPA, it could possibly do with a bit more of a hoppy punch but other than that it’s just about right. I’m hoping to try it on cask before long so that I can compare the too, I’ve got a feeling that cask will quite possibly give it another dimension and make it even better.

Crown Brewery and brewer Stu are definately one to watch, they make some fantastic beers and have some fantastic ideas, I for one think they have a big future ahead of them.

Check out the Crown Brewery website here and follow Stu on twitter here, you can also become a fan of theirs on facebook here

If you are a brewer and i’ve not already asked you to join in then please get in touch.

First up we have Stu from Crown Brewery In Sheffield:

What is your brewery capacity?
4 barrels per brew 2 x week

Crown Brewer Stu

What is different about your brewery?
Big flavours, unusual styles mad brewer

How long have you been brewing for?
Crown 10years, me 2.5 years here & 4 years at Kelham Island before that.

How did you get into brewing?
One of my mates was head brewer at Kelham he asked me to work for him I was in to cask beer any way so I went for it. He left Kelham 9 months later and I was in charge.

What beers do you brew regularly?
HILLSBOROUGH PALE ALE 3.9% - Hillsborough Pale Ale is a modern English blonde beer brewed with cascade hops. The aroma is fresh and hoppy with citrus notes. Grapefruit and lemon linger on the pallet, with crisp bitterness lasting through the long finish, leaving your mouth refreshed and wanting more.

TRADITIONAL BITTER 4% - Traditional Bitter and was the winner of Sheffield Beer Festival 2007, It is a dark amber pleasantly hoppy and malty bitter. Just like hammerite it does what it says on the tin!

STANNINGTON STOUT 5% - The stout is black in colour with a ruby edge. The aroma is big and deep, with an espresso coffee and biter chocolate note, underscored by biscuity malt. Liquorice comes through on the palate while the better biscuity malt builds for a long finish with intense notes of coffee, chocolate and liquorice.

SAMUEL BERRY’S PALE ALE 5.1%  - Lovely amber coloured pale ale, with a fresh grapefruit/citrus fruity malt hop aroma. Light and easy drinking. There is plenty of racy citrus fruit and an underlying bitterness that adds a grippy edge. (Note: Read my review)

What special/seasonal beers do you brew?
WHEETIE BITS 4.4% - The beer is intensely aromatic with lots of lemony fruit, spices and a hint of white chocolate. There is plenty of yeasty aroma, that is quite high and floral. On the palate it is very easy drinking . There is plenty of racy citrus fruit and an underlying bitterness that adds a grippy edge. (NOTE: Read my review)

Crown U I P A

WHEAT STOUT 6.6% – This is a magnificently deep rich black coloured ale which when carefully poured delivers a find beer with a good thick creamy head. The aroma matches the strength of the beer, while predominately malty, has hints of hops and even some fruitiness. The taste is again powerful with coffee to the fore with chocolate malt balanced by a little sweetness. The aftertaste is dry and deep with hints of chocolate matching the intense maltiness. (NOTE: Read my review)

RAUCHBIER  5.7% -“Suprisingly authentic marzen-style rauchbier, with an assertive smoky note, robustly chewy malt character, and a dry, moreish finish” Zak Avery.(NOTE: Stu I really want’t to try this)

UNPRONOUNCEABLE 7% - It’s a punchy beer and pours a royal crown gold with a fluffy white head.Its hopped with 5kg of Bramling Cross (5kg in a 4 brl plant) and they come straight out in a plume of earthy blackberries. Its got a great nose, really fruity and juicy and reminiscent of picking berries from the bushes with pink—stained fingers. There is a great kick of bitterness to begin with and then it gives way to more fruity berries and hints of apple sucky sweets. Its full of flavour and very good plus its’ nice adversary to the super hopped U S style IPAs (NOTE: Read my review)

RING OF FIRE  7.7% -A beast brewed with fresh chillis and poured out a deep and dangerous chilli con carne brown beer with fiery red edge, it smells of dried fruit and stone fruits like a barley wine and then right at the end, like a cheeky littlesurprise, comes the fresh and slightly warming aroma of chilli. It tastes sweet, full bodied and richly fruity brew and then right at the end the chilli come in like a garnish of fresh green peppers. (NOTE: I helped brew this so it’s bound to be great) (NOTE: Read my review of the 10.3% version)

DJANGO REINHARDT 6.3%  - The Damson double porter was brewed with Zak Avery, (beer writer of the year 2008) This rich sweet porter is full of flavour and ideal as a winter warmer

Where do you think the future of brewing lies?
I think cask ale has grown nearly as much as its ever going to in this country, but the micro/craft brewers have got a lot more of the big boys share to take. I think during the next decade we will see a slow increase in the take home market and by the 20′s I see us having #1 a growing craft brewed real keg scene which will fill the gap in slower selling cask pubs or #2 a lot more pubs will be using cask breather systems.

What is you proudest moment in brewing?
I’ve had some great moments in my short brewing career so far, winning beer festivals but I would have to say that every week I’ll be stood at the bar and some one will come up and say something like ‘another pint o that pale ale please luv its reet nice’ those are the best moments because they don’t know who I am stood at the bar and its really honest.

Crown Brewery Wheat stout

What was last beer you drank?
Sierra Nevada Pale ale draught at the opening of a new bar at Sheffield Train station

What is your favourite hop?
This is a very reacent thing for me Cascade but next year it will be something else.

What is your brewing ambition?
Win some sort of big award CBOB or BGBW brewer of the year

Do you have a Brewing hero/inspiration?
Sierra Nevada are a big influence at the moment

Which beer do you wish you had brewed?
Mmmmmmmmmmm lots but I’m happy with the brews I’ve come up with my self.

What’s Favourite hobby outside of brewing?

Crown Green Bowling

If you could have one super power what would it  be?
I would be the Master of Time and Space like Hiro in Heroes, I could go where ever I wanted for a drink. Do a pub crawl of the world in the blink of an eye.

Anything else you want to tell us?
Beer, helping ugly people have sex since ???

I would also like to add that Stu loves his hot sauce and probably gets through nearly as much of it as me.

Thanks for Stu for taking the time to complete this you can follow him on twitter here or visit their website here, if you are a brewer and would like to take part then please get in touch

Crown What Stout

Wheat stout pours very well, with not too much fizz, it has an amazing really really dark brown head which lasted extremely well (I will get a picture when i open another bottle), The head might actually be slighter darker than the one on the Thornbridge Bracia i had a few weeks back.

It had a lovely wheat, vanilla smell with a little hint of yeast, it was surprisingly light for a stout of over 6%,  i would probably class it as medium bodied, which to be fair is just about right as you could quite easily drink a bigger bottle of it.

Taste wise it was lovely it had a lovely deep roasted flavour with hints of the vanilla and yeast from the aroma coming through, there was a little bit of sharpness in the finish which was just enough to keep your thirst going and help the beer slip down.

I was pretty impressed with Wheat Stout, it wasn’t quite as complex as the Bracia. and maybe not as well finished but it was still a bloody good beer and something i will happily spend my hard earned cash on.

Wheetie Bits

The beer opened with a real fizz and started to foam out of the bottle so i quickly poured it and allowed it to settle. It had a really good head and was a lovely golden colour with a fair bit of  “wheat beer” haze.

The aromas were spicy and fruity with a tiny bit of wheat and yeast, there was also something  sweet about the smell, enough to make Emily actually say it smelt nice, which i think is possibly a first when it comes to beer.

The first sip was lovely, the original fizziness that burst from the bottle when it was opened had almost disappeared giving the beer a lovely texture, it was light but really smooth, in fact much smoother than i was expecting.

The taste was great,it was light and well balanced with a nice bitterness, a good amount of citrus comes through as your are drinking it which helps cut through the wheat and makes it slide down very easily making it an excellent drinking beer.

Now here comes the real shocker,  Emily absolutely loved it, i nipped out of the room and said have a sip of that, when i came back she had poured half the bottle into her glass.

I asked her what she though and she said it was lovely, light and fruity,  just how she likes it, she even picked up the white chocolate hint that is mentioned on the bottle. She isn’t usually a fan of beers with wheat in but this seems to be the exception to the rule.

This however is bad news for me as i only have one bottle left and i have had to hide it from her, so it looks like i will have to order some more from Stu very soon.

Overall i think this is cracking beer that tastes great chilled or at room temperature, it’s not overly complicated, bitter or sweet, it is just about right.

We had it with curry and it handled it really well, it would probably go with just about any dish.