Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale was one of Crown Brewery’s beers that I hadn’t had until I visited the Hillsborough Hotel to help brew Ring of Fire 2009. I was given a taster while I was there and also bought a bottle home with me, it was meant to be drank on the train but I decided to keep it until I could appreciate it fully.
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
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