Greene King Flint Eye

Flint Eye is a lovely clear golden beer with a loose, off-white head that disappears quickly, leaving just a faint swirl of bubbles on the surface.  It has a hoppy aroma as well as notes of yellow fruit (banana, pineapple, peach and lemon) and a hint of honey.

Flavour is quite light, as you’d expect for a lager, but the dry hopping process gives it a lovely tang of hops as well as a hint of pine.  It has a thin body but it’s well carbonated, which adds a nice prickle to the mouthfeel.

It’s a lovely crisp, dry and refreshing lager with a decent ABV of 4.5%.  I’m pretty impressed with this lager and I think it’s the perfect lager to quench your thirst on a hot summer’s day.  Ale Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Greene King Brewery, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
4.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Greene King Brewery

Banks Caribbean Lager

  

I'm taking a virtual trip to Barbados today with Banks Caribbean Lager.  It's a golden yellow traditional looking lager with a large frothy off-white head that not unexpectedly disappears quite rapidly.  I served this one cold so there is some condensation on the glass but it's a lovely clear lager.

The aroma isn't strong and I don't know if it was auto-suggestion that made me pick up Caribbean hints of tropical fruit and spices in addition to hops.  It's quite weak in flavour too and I couldn't detect any flavour other than hops, although after a few sips it seemed to get sweeter and more creamy.  It's thin bodied, watery and very fizzy which gives it a spring water like taste and mouthfeel, no doubt due to the Barbados' water that has been naturally filtered through limestone rock.

It's a lager so I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary and although it's very drinkable Banks Caribbean Lager isn't one I'd recommend.  It's a forgettable lager that's just ok; it's too fizzy, too watery and doesn't have enough flavour.  Ale NOT Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Banks Brewery, Barbados
4.7% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3/5

Find out more at Banks Brewery

Original Stormtrooper Lightspeed Pilsner

It's the 4th of May so Happy Star Wars Day!  I really couldn't have found a better beer to review today than The Original Stormtrooper beers from St Peter's Brewery so I'm posting not just one but two reviews today!  I bought the Lightspeed Pilsner in a gift pack with a glass for £5.99 from B&M in December 2019 but you can also buy glasses and gift packs direct from Original Stormtrooper for the Star Wars fan in your life!  Just click here to take a look.

May the force be with you

Gift set from B&M

As I'm a fan of ale from the dark side, I haven't really experienced a lot of pilsner, however, this Lightspeed Pilsner more than exceeded my expectations.  It is a deep golden yellow colour with a frothy and surprisingly robust cream coloured head.  The aroma is deliciously hoppy and smells strongly of sweet stone fruits with a hint of citrus.

For a pilsner, it is surprisingly flavourful; a lovely blend of malt and hops is evident in the taste along with a grassy and sweet fruit flavour.  I didn't really get any hints of sweetcorn that was mentioned on the label but it may have mixed in with the sweet stone fruits I could taste.  The initial blast of flavour is then followed by a delicious crisp and dry bitter finish.

With medium carbonation and medium body, it's a very refreshing beer.  It most certainly lives up to it's  description of 'lager with a twist'.  It's been years since I've had a lager but the addition of fabulous bitterness pushes this more into the ale category for me.  This could definitely bring a lager drinker over to the dark side of real ale. 

I would definitely have this again, especially as a light refreshment on a sunny day, so Lightspeed Pilsner Ale Be Seeing You Again!

Brewed by St Peters Brewery, Suffolk

4.2% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.75

Find out more at The Original Stormtrooper

Timothy Taylor Landlord

Timothy Taylor's award winning Landlord is often referred to as the drinkers' favourite and having now tried it for myself it's easy to see why.  

This deep golden ale pours crystal clear with a loose frothy cream coloured head that slowly disappears but clings on for as long as it can.  It has a mouthwatering aroma of caramel, malt and hops with a hint of floral herbals.  The taste is absolutely unbelievable; nothing like citrussy pale ales I'm used to but a more rounded caramel malty version.  Imagine toast dripping with butter, a malted milk biscuit followed by a segment of orange to add a bit of bitterness, and it's something like what I tasted in Landlord.

It's full bodied and very nicely carbonated to tickle the tongue as if you've had an orange sherbet sweet.  Perfectly blended to be dry and sweet with a lovely bitter aftertaste, this is pale ale Yorkshire style and it's a huge thumbs up from me.

Landlord feels like a cross between a pale ale and a bitter which puts it on my drink again list and is one Ale Be Seeing Again.

Brewed by Timothy Taylor, West Yorkshire
4.1% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Timothy Taylor

Wainwright The Golden Beer

As you would expect from a golden beer, this is a perfect light molten gold colour with a thin loose white head that disperses to a thin film.  On opening, there is a very strong smell of hops but also a hint of sweet fruit that made me think of pineapple.  I also got a strange whiff of dirty water like you often get with Shepherd Neame ales.

I was really surprised by the depth of flavour: an initial smooth, sweet taste mixed with fresh cut grass and straw is followed by a strong hoppy aftertaste with a hint of liquorice.  The aftertaste reminded me of strong hoppy beers like Stones.

It's so softly carbonated that it tickles the tongue and the beer itself has good body and isn't too thin.  I loved the beery taste but the dirty water smell put me off a bit and knocked one pint off what would have been a five pint rating.

Brewed by Marstons, Wolverhampton

4.1% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Wainwright