Saturday, 12 April 2014

Beer #215 - Batemans / Nøgne Ø Brown Ale

Pub mega-chain JD Wetherspoons is currently holding another ‘International Real Ale festival’ (at least, it is until tomorrow). The festival again features ten international guest brewers that have collaborated with UK breweries to produce beers for the festival, along with 40 cask ales. I made a small effort with the last festival, last Autumn, and managed to try 10 or so of the beers but due to a combination of circumstances haven’t really bothered this time around. I did, however, call in to the Angel in Islington when passing last week to see what they had on offer. The Angel is exceptionally cheap despite its location and I thought it rude not to try a half of the Batemans / Nøgne ø Brown Ale when it would cost me just 99p. Nøgne ø is a highly-regarded Norwegian craft brewery and Ed Hortemo travelled to Batemans in Lancashire to put together this brew which blends Bobek  hops from Slovenia with the more traditional East Kent Goldings from, well, Kent. I really liked this, it pours a dark brown and the nose is quite roasty with caramel. The initial taste is slightly sour but soon becomes a smooth toasted malty flavour with some bitter coffee notes. I don’t really pick up much from the hops but it’s a really nice roasty, malty beer.
 
Brewery: Batemans Brewery / Nøgne Ø collaboration
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.5%

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