The Rebel Brewing Company Eighty Shilling

The Rebel Brewing Company Eighty Shilling

Style: Scotch Ale

Alcohol Content: 5%

From: Penryn, Cornwall, England

Purchased from: Noble Green Wines, Hampton Hill
http://www.rebelbrewing.co.uk/

"I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly..." Ron Burgundy

The Rebel Brewing Company is a multi-award winning independent craft brewery based in Penryn, Cornwall. The brewery currently produces a range of six core beers and a craft range consisting of five rotating lines (their Chocolate Vanilla Stout, Mexi Coco was the recipient of Carma's prestigious Champion Beer of Cornwall in 2013). Currently Rebel supply over 500 outlets in Cornwall, Devon and the rest of the U.K. This number is growing very quick as their reputation continues to grow.

They also offer a brewery tour for a meager £12, where the designated driver receives a gift pack of beers to take away. Now everyone can go home happy. The subject of this review is their Eighty Shilling Scotch ale. Now if you are a fan of scotch style ales, you will no doubt notice that a large number of them are labeled as Eighty Shilling. But what does this term actually mean? We the name Eighty Shilling refers to the name of a tax charged on a 54 gallon hogshead for beer between 4-5.5% alcohol in 19th century Scotland. So onto the review.

Colour: Pours a dark chestnut neatly topped with a light tan coloured head. This head lingers for the duration of the beer and laces the glass perfectly. If you hold this beer up to the light you will notice a red hue resonating from the bottom of the glass.

Aroma: This malty bomb sings to notes of sweet caramel, dried fruit and currents. As the drink warms, hints of smoke and dark chocolate begin to resonate though the aroma profile. This drink actually smells like a high quality single malt and hopefully, it will drink like one too (especially after the week I have had).

Body: What a beautifully silky mouthfeel! This drink covers every single part of your mouth with a feeling of rich velvet and slips down the throat with an easy of a lazy sunday morning. The incredibly low carbonation ensures that this sensation stays with you sip after sip.

Taste: Very rich and incredibly sweet. The dried fruit and molasses present in the perfume return with avengeance leading a full scale assault on your tastes buds. Luckily, this onslaught of sweetness never becomes too sickly and is playfully cut though with a delicate peaty smokiness. As the drink warms, its characteristics change slightly to real notes of coffee and yeasty marmite. This is definitely not a drink to be rushed, so stoke the fire, sit back in your favorite leather armchair and relax.    

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/gordon-finest-scotch-ale.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/redchurch-brewery-soreditch-blonde.html

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St. Austell Proper Job

St. Austell Proper Job

Style: Indian Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 5%

From:St Austell, Cornwall, England, UK
Purachsed From: Tesco

St Austell Brewery is a brewery founded in 1851 by Walter Hicks in St Austell, Cornwall, England. The brewery's flagship beer is Tribute Ale, which accounts for around 80% of sales. Tribute was created to commemorate the 1999 solar eclipse, and has won several awards around the UK since. This includes becoming the Winner of the SIBA South West awards in 2007. Other popular ales include Proper Job, Tinner's Ale and Duchy Bitter. Personally, I am a massive fan of Tribute. Ever since I first tried it down in Somerset, it will always be my go to pint in my work local, the Jolly farmer. So with that in mind; I am looking forward to trying this beer.

The next couple of reviews will be slightly different to my previous posts. Last Sunday, I took four bottles of craft beer over to my parents house. Myself and my dad would have half a bottle each and review them together. Since i have been writing my blog, my dad has been very supportive and curious about the craft beer world. Below is a picture of the four beers i took over to my parents. This should be interesting!

 

 

Colour: A glorious light amber. It looks almost like heaven it's self. Once poured, you will notice that this beer is heavily carbonated. Upon looking at my dad's glass, I noticed that his vessel was slightly flatter. After closer inspection (and reading the bottle), we decided that my glass had some of the yeast from the bottle conditioning in it. This caused a secondary carbonation in the glass. The head is a brilliant white that will linger throughout you drinking experience.

Aroma: As soon as you open the bottle you are blasted with notes of sweet grapefruit and oranges. You can tell my old man was impressed, as he did not describe the aroma as "malty" as he seem to say about all beers. Instead he suggested oranges, lemons and kiwi. Maybe my influence is starting to rub off on him.

Body: After a few sips, I think my dad is rather taken with this beer. After carefully placing his beer on a coaster, he declares; "You know what? I wish I had knew about this beer ages ago. It's my perfect summer beer. How many did you buy of these?" There is a lovely crisp feel to this beer. Refreshing and delicate on the palate, this ale is getting a thumbs up from the Parsons boys. Just have to try and convert my little brother now.

Taste: Now for the tasting. Taking my first sip, I pick up notes of juicy citrus fruit such as oranges, lemons and kiwi. There is a slight sweet honey quality to the finish which is cut though by a bitter hop blast. This leaves you wanting another more. The old man suggested, "The lemony flavour makes this beer refreshing and extremely drinkable." High praise indeed from the big man.

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Skinner's Heligan Honey

Skinner's Heligan Honey

Style: Bitter

Alcohol content: 4%

From: Truro, Cornwall, England

Purchased from: Tesco

Skinner's is a British brewery founded in 1997 by Steve and Sarah Skinner in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK.The company produce cask ales and bottled beers, the names of which may come from Cornish folklore. The beers have won a number of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and SIBA awards.The company's pub, the Skinner's Ale House in Newquay, was sold, and is now called Leadbelly's. Heligan Honey is named after the Lost gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey in Cornwall. If you are ever in Cornwall, try and visit in the summer when the flowers are in full bloom! It is truly a sight to behold. Ah how i love the west courty.

The label reminds me of the racy postcards that used to be sold at British seasides. Here we have a a naughty "flasher" character running away from the bees with ale in hand. Very saucy! These labels are a real draw and drew me straight to this ale.

Naughty seaside postcard label

Colour: Rich copper with a small white head. The head does not stay around very long. About five second in total. It looks a lot like runny honey or the Flying Dog Doggie style pale ale i reviewed earlier in the blog.

Smell: Sweet sticky honey on the nose. But not the runny kind; its more like set honey. You also get a smell of lavender. Its almost like the bees have been pollinating sweet lavender flowers just for this brew. The smell will actually stay with you throughout you drink which is quite rare for any beer. This makes the beer the most potent honey infused brew i have ever smelt.     

Body: For a beer that is mixed with real honey, it is extremely light and refreshing. However, this drink ouzos a sticky richness from the honey. Strangely the honey does not clog you mouth, as just the rich amount of hops are used to give you a lovely crisp finish. This leaves you very satisfied and gagging for more!

Taste: Sweet honey with a crisp bitter finish. Very nice to have in a beer garden, in the summer, with a few good friends. The real Cornish honey really stays with you though out the drink. It is almost like you a drinking a pint of honey straight from the jar (although you will have a lot less mess). A very, very nice brew indeed.

Sweet honey bee!

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