Sup beerios. Ben again. Today I are been mostly drinking Paddleboarder Pale by Lost Pier Brewing, a relatively new nomadic brewery that have their roots firmly in the wine industry, but have spread their beautiful wings and decided that beer is the future, but their knowledge of the wine trade and production process makes for a interesting crossover!
No backstory today - It is the last day before I return 'fully' to work on Monday, so my sorrows shall be drowned, but at least I've got the correct equipment to do so!
So, the beer.
Cool can design - I love anything that relates to where I live. You could take a photo of Newhaven Tip and put it on a can and I'd probably give it at least a 5, but yeah, very cool.
On the shnozz it is fresh and fruity with 0 bitterness. Then, as it warms slightly you can tell the fruityness is actually pineapple. Then, you get a bit of sweetness at the end of the smell-range: amazing how many smells they've got out of one hop - mosaic. Bit of inspiration for my next home brew as I've got 50g of mosaic hops sitting in my freezer!
The intense pineapple smell isn't quite reflected in the taste: it is there, milling around, mixing with a hint of sweetness as well. The absent bitterness in the smell makes an appearance fairly early on to taste - not heaps, but just enough to remind you this is a beer. This early bitterness that lingers throughout the taste range does make it seem like it is stronger than the 3.4% that it is. For me, it is on the edge of sessionable bitterness, as I could have a few, but not all night. Not very often we have a beer that tastes stronger than it does!
So, I've sat the cool can in my cool glass on top of my cool book, the one I am currently reading. It is the monster 5th book in the series by Phillip Pullman, the first trilogy being His Dark Materials and the second trilogy being The Book of Dust. He is such a great writer and I am a little gutted that I've only got 50 pages left to go, and as far as I am aware, Pullman hasn't finished the 6th and final book in this trilogy yet! This beer does make a fine reading-beer. (If you can have a table beer you can have a reading beer!)
I do love my fruity pales and this sits snugly in the middle of my ratings for them. Not outstanding and certainly not bad, so a strong 6/10.
Cheers,
-Ben.