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

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery or like me on Facebook at Beefsbrewery

Tiny Rebel The Full Nelson

Tiny Rebel The Full Nelson
Style: Maori Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 4.8%

From: Newport, Wales, United Kingdom

Purchased From: Real Ale Shop, Richmond-Upon-Thames

http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk/

If you watch Game of Throne, you will be familiar with the phase, “Winter is Coming”. Whilst, the bitter winter has yet to reach Westeros (in the TV show at least), cold polar air is currently lashing the UK.  It’s times like these that I turn my thoughts to next year and holidays in warmer climates. It seems only fitting that I look in the beer cupboard and try to locate something fruity and bright, just so I can bring some sunshine to my life. After a couple of minutes I stumbled across Tiny Rebel's, The Full Nelson. A Maori Pale Ale named after a wrestling move (although I'm not sure that they meant this). So let’s crack it open and get tropical.

The Tiny Rebel Brewing Company is based in Newport, South Wales. It is currently the only microbrewery in the area employing six people and produces the equivalent of 640 casks of beer per calendar year. Set up in 2010, the brewery has gone from strength to strength exporting bottles and kegs to Denmark, Norway, Italy and Australia. However, the company fell fowl of Swedish consumer guidelines on alcohol when they tried to launch their Fubar beer in the country. The label consist of a grenade and several bullet holes (guess that’s not allowed in the land of Abba and Sanuas). Oh well their loss is our gain.

Colour: Pours a light hazy copper with a bubbly white head which lingers in the glass for the duration. As the drink warms, it gets slightly darker.

Aroma: This drink has an almost wine like aroma profile. Heady hints of grape and apricot cut with fresh limes present themselves instantly. These aroma’s come from the use of Nelson Sauvin hops, which indecently is named after the Sauvignon grape.  The aromas unfortunately disappear after a couple of minutes in the glass (or it could be my Man Flu blocking them out).

Body: A light spritzy body ensures a pleasurable drinking experience. The soft carbonation will tickle you tongue and throat with every sip. 

Taste: Big bold notes of sour grapefruit, tangerines and passion fruit present themselves on the tongue. The Nelson Sauvin hop imparts a very smooth bitterness due to its low cohumulone content. The use of Munich malt helps to create a crisp but slight metallic after-taste which actually helps to add to the flavour of the beer. So far, this is one of the best Pacific pale ales I have tried. Much taster than the Bad Seed's attempt I reviewed late last month and I certainly will be coming back for more.    

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/bad-seed-brewery-south-pacific-pale-ale.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/meantime-raspberry-wheat.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery or like me on Facebook at Beefsbrewery