Brass Castle x North Riding Sweet Spot

Sweet Spot is a light mild brewed with actual Fruit Salad sweets by Brass Castle Brewery in collaboration with North Riding Brewery.  

It's a very lively beer with a deep golden body and it produced a thick, tight off-white head but it took me a couple of slow, careful pours to get it all out of the can.  Thankfully, no sediment was evident.  The head lasts and laces.

With notes of sugary candy, it smells like a sweet shop and very much like Fruit Salad sweets.  It also has a nice hoppy smell that adds a bit of sourness to the sweetness.  It really tingled my taste buds when I had my first sip as it's fruity but a little tart.  It has a silky smooth mouthfeel with low carbonation and a medium to full body.

It's a very moreish beer and definitely one for the sweet toothed among us.  It's quite sweet and sour, it reminded me of a bitter mixed with a fruity sour, and I really liked it.  It left me licking me lips and if it's ever brewed again, Ale Be Seeing You.

Brewed by Brass Castle Brewery in collaboration with North Riding Brewery, Yorkshire
5.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Brass Castle Brewery

Find out more at North Riding Brewery

Brew York Goose Willis

 

I love seeing what imaginitive concoctions Brew York come up with and even the names of their beers make me smile.  Goose Willis is a gooseberry fool sour brewed with Nelson Sauvin hops and lactose and it completely exceeded my expectations.

It's a hazy golden yellow beer with a loose, rapidly vanishing off-white head.  It actually poured clear at first and became hazy as there must have been some sediment, but I wanted to get as much of this one out of the can as possible.

It smells delicious; it's so fruity with a sweet undertone, and made me think of a warm gooseberry pie just coming out of the oven.  Brew York rate this sour 3/5 for puckerability and I think that's spot on.  It definitely tastes of gooseberry but it's slightly sweet rather than being too tarty so I found it really pleasant to drink and barely had any lip puckering at all.  It's well carbonated but not overly fizzy and it has a thin body.

I really liked this one, it's very refreshing and easy to drink for a sour.  It's not too tarty and not too sweet, just perfectly balanced to fully experience the fruitiness of the juicy gooseberries.  I don't often say this about a sour, but Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by Brew York Brewery, York
5.3% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Brew York Brewery

Evil Twin Wake Up and Smell the Gose

I don't drink beer for breakfast but if I did, I would definitely have Evil Twin's imperial breakfast gose on the menu.

Wake Up and Smell The Gose is a deep golden crystal clear ale with a loose and rapidly disappearing off-white head.  It smells of blueberries, burnt toffee and red liquorice laces at first then develops into something more like blueberry and caramel pancakes.

The flavour is very unusual, it's like fruity blueberry pancakes with a salt chaser.  It's tangy and slightly mouth-puckering but I liked it.  It has a thin but not watery body and it's quite harshy carbonated and very fizzy.

It's actually lip-smackingly good.  It's really tasty and very unusual.  I love how the salt lingers on the lips and it perhaps doesn't taste much like a beer but I liked it.  Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by Evil Twin Brewing, Brooklyn, USA
6.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Evil Twin Brewing

BrewDog Quench Quake

Although I'm not sure they should be considered a beer, I keep being drawn to fruity, refreshing sours - the more lip-puckering the better.  So, I thought I'd try Quench Quake, BrewDog's grapefruit and tangerine sour but I was a little disappointed to be honest.

It's a lovely bright golden colour with a small, rapidly disappearing off-white head.  Once the head has gone, it looks like a glass of cider.  I leaned in for a sniff and was very disappointed; it smells just like a lager and lime!  

There was no lip puckering in the taste, although the zingy grapefruit citrus had a good attempt at pinging my tastebuds.  It does have a sour taste but it's not overly so, it's like it can't quite make its mind up what to be between a lager and a sour.  Body is unsurprisingly thin and watery and carbonation is low and soft.

Whilst it's tasty and fruity, it's nothing exciting.  There's not even any lime in it, but to me it just tasted like a lager and lime with far too much lime in.  It's maybe one for those who like alcopops, which isn't me, so Ale not Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by BrewDog Brewery, Ellon, Aberdeenshire
4.6% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

Brew York Mos Eisley Catharina 2020

 

As a Star Wars fan I just had to try this guava, coconut and lime sour from Brew York and I was not disappointed.  It looks, smells and tastes like it could be served at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

It's a hazy golden yellow beer with a small, loose, rapidly vanishing head that ends up looking like a glass of fruit juice.  It smells like juice too with a delicious fruity aroma of guava, sour fruit and a hint of coconut.  It has a strange sweaty smell too so it's not an overly appealing fragrance.

Thankfully, it didn't taste sweaty!  The mix of guava, lime and coconut is delicious and although the tangy fruit flavour isn't mouthpuckering, it's definitely a sour.  It has a medium body and low, prickly carbonation so it has a smooth mouthfeel like fruit juice but with an added bit of fizz.

Very fruity and refreshing, it tastes quite boozy and the flavour develops as you drink it to really bring out the lime and coconut flavour that had originally been overpowered by the guava.

I'm not sure I would call a sour a beer so they're not my usual tipple but with a Star Wars theme, it had to be done.  I'd recommend trying it but I wouldn't necessarily have another one as it was a bit of a gimmick for me. 

Brewed by Brew York Brewery, York
6.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.5/5

Find out more at Brew York Brewery

71 Brewing Raspberry Mash

I don't drink a lot of sours so I really have to be in the mood for one and this limited edition raspberry and coffee mash from 71 Brewing caught my eye in one of Lidl's beer festivals.  Conditioned on Scottish raspberries and freshly ground Burundian 'Red Bourbon' coffee beans, it sounded so weird that I just had to try it.

It's a beautiful ruby red jewel colour but it's completely headless so it looks like a glass of raspberry pop.  It did produce a bit of foam at first but it disappeared mid-pour and, as it is unfiltered and unpasteurised, there is the possibility of a bit of sediment so it needs a careful pour.

There is no mistaking the aroma of fresh and juicy raspberries but it has a slight sour whiff that made me think of raspberry wine.  The hit of raspberries in the first sip is lovely; it's a fruity, tarty and sour flavour which is followed by a hint of coffee.  It's a very small hint though and I'm not sure I would have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it.  Although it looks quite flat, it's surprisingly well carbonated with a thin and watery body.

It's definitely a sour, so I have to give 71 Brewing credit for producing what it says on the can.  I just would have liked a bit more flavour as the raspberries take over but, because it's quite watery in body, it tastes quite weak after a few sips.  I'm glad I tried it but Ale not Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by 71 Brewing, Dundee
4.2% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.25/5

Find out more at 71 Brewing

Corsendonk Summum Roodbruin

Corsendonk Summum Roodbruin is a dark mahogany brown coloured Belgian Dubbel with an amazingly tight beige head that doesn't budge, lasting and lacing until the final drop.  The head is amazingly robust, leaving thick lacing on the glass.  

There's a light aroma of malt, fruit, treacle and tangy hops along with a slightly metallic hint.  There's nothing light about the flavour with a big hit of roasted malt, dark fruit, sour hops and treacle.  As it's a Belgian dubbel with an ABV of 8.1% ABV it's no surprise that there's a slight hint of alcohol in the taste but there's nothing harsh or raw about it; it's more of a warming taste of alcohol as if the beer has been brewed in bourbon casks.  As it develops, I could taste more caramel and even a hint of liquorice giving it a bitter/sweet finish.

Medium bodied with good carbonation, it has an abundance of prickly malty bubbles with a sour fruit centre that burst in your mouth.  It's a real lip smacking beer with sweet caramel lingering on the lips and slightly sour dark fruit and malt on the tongue.

You can tell it's a strong ale as you're drinking it but without any raw alcohol taste it goes down far too easily.  A very easy to drink Belgian ale, it's perhaps not the best dubbel I've ever had but at £6.99 for a pack of 4 from Lidl it's definitely good value.  My four have now all magically disappeared but I'll be keeping an eye out for these hitting the shelves again and Ale Be Seeing You.

Brewed by Corsendonk Brewery, Belgium
8.1% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.25/5

Find out more at Corsendonk Brewery