Monday 27 December 2010

Pete Drinks: Coach House Brewing Company Blueberry Classic Bitter

BlueberryBeer-0808

Name: Coach House Brewing Company Blueberry Classic Bitter

ABV: 5.0%

Bottled/ Draft: Bottled, unconditioned

Colour: Pale

Head: Pours like a fizzy drink, with a head that didn't last long enough to photograph

Mouthfeel: Tizer

Taste: Overwhelming blueberry smell as you open the bottle, and that carries through to the taste as well; sweet, almost cordial-like.

Comment: Fruit beers have a lot in common with fruit teas; if the balance is right they can be delicious, but it's oh so easy to get them wrong. At one end of the spectrum you have beers (and teas) with a tantalising fruity aroma, but when you come to drink them they just taste of beer (or tea). While there's nothing with that - I'm a big fan of both beer and tea - I find the disconnect with smell and taste frustrating.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have things like this beer. The pure-fruit nose is reflected in a pure-fruit taste - it's closer to an alcopop than a beer; stickily sweet, fizzy, fruity with no hint of malt and just the barest hint of bitterness at the very end suggesting some light hopping. In itself, it's not an objectionable drink - but it's not really much like an actual beer.

BlueberryBeer-0810

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Mmmm I adore fruit beers and you are quite right, you do still want a beer taste, with a hint of fruit in both smell and after taste.

I tried a blueberry bitter brewed in a nunnery, if I recall correctly. Can't remember the blasted name now, it was utterly delicious.