I can't recall having a ginger ale before. Of course I've had the alcohol free version many times - it's a favourite of mine, especially Fentimans interpretation. (Their cola is pretty damn good too, and something of a curiosity to me because I find it tastes exactly like cola bottles, which is great, but I would never have considered cola bottles to be a very authentic cola containing foodstuff, but Fentimans cola is definitely more natural than other of the major producers, so perhaps the humble cola bottle deserves more respect).Anyway, back to the alcoholic version. In Keystone Brewery Gold Spice the ginger is vaguely present in the form of a mild, yet pleasant dry heat in the back of the throat. Even without the ginger this would be a dry beer; it has little residual body and an irrepressible stream of bubble sustaining frothy foam throughout. The bottled yeast were clearly hard at work during the conditioning of this beer. There is English hop character in there somewhere too, both aroma and a distinct bitterness, but the intense condition makes the carbon dioxide burn a little and a metallic note creeps in with it. The best part in the colour of the beer; it really lives up to its name, sporting a stunning golden hue with brilliant clarity.
This beer arrived with my last CAMRA beer club delivery, but disaster has struck. CAMRA recently outsourced the distribution and selection of their beer club to realale.com - a company I recently visited in London and were very impressed with, however they claim to have had bad luck with deliveries to Ireland in the past, with missing boxes and broken bottles occurring all too regularly. One or two of my deliveries suffered this fate, so realale.com are struggling to find a more reliable courier firm. The problem is that most couriers want to charge a fortune for delivery to Ireland. The cost isn't much of a surprise - the average box of goodies from CAMRA weighs in excess of 20 kilograms. So it looks likes no more deliveries for me in the near future until they broker a better deal. I must confess to being a little irritated.
5 comments:
The most delicious beer I've had with ginger in it was made by fellow ICBer Freedgul. It was a couple of years ago now, but I still remember thinking Wow! Then again, I haven't had very many beers with ginger, so I wouldn't mind trying this one.
Aww, that's a real shame about the deliveries. Hope you can get it sorted. And not just 'cos of the odd freebie you used to throw me.
I figured that if I had tried this type of beer before it would have been an ICBer who brewed it, but I'm sure I haven't.
Hopefully I'll get my CAMRA delivery sorted soon. And I know that your sympathy is entirely down to the freebies I gave you. You are 'The Beer Nut' after all...
Daleside Morocco ale is an excellent beer with ginger, definitely one to try if you ever see it.
Couriers aren't generally much good at delivering beer in London either, if that's any comfort. Missing packages; broken bottles; boxes left with neighbours but without a card telling us that's where they are... bah! Scoundrels, the lot of them.
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