Sunday 2 December 2007

No Pale Imitation

Well, given that Pete Brown has now landed in India - for those of you who haven't been following his epic adventures visit http://www.petebrown.blogspot.com/ - I thought I would offer some tasting notes on the version of his Calcutta Ale that hasn't made the journey, which I tried at the really rather good Old Ale Festival at the White Horse the other weekend.

The nose is full of clove, banana and marzipan immediately - with a background of subtle caramel tones and a very slight lime zest.

The initial flavours are of a slightly tomatoey/orangey nature with very little discernable maltiness and then, suddenly, up pop some very slight burnt coffee notes followed by a medicinal spike of hop - which I'd hazard will have evened out on Pete's journey - and then you just get this enormously long, dry hop finish which, I have to say, made me feel incredibly hungry!

I could certainly drink more than a couple of pints of this in its
un-sea-soned state (geddit?!) and it is certainly a really brilliant pre-dinner pint to get the old juices flowing.

So congrats Mr Brown, your epic journey has not only been entertaining to follow but has also produced a really very drinkable beer.