Shirley Beer Festival

Last weekend I spent some time at the Shirley Beer Festival. The large crowd drank the place dry, but I was able to sample three of the ales. They were all good so look out for them in the future.

Gravekeeper's Ale

This was a dark ale, the tasting notes states it used two types of hops to create a complex flavour. However there was nothing complex about it. It tasted like chocolate. The texture was smooth and went down easy, I could have happily sat in a pub and drank it all day. With an alcohol percentage of 3.8 you could get through a lot.

The only compliant I have with it is that it isn't a 'summer' beer. It was too chocolatey and not crisp enough to cool me down in the middle of a warm field.

7/10

                                         
Red

The tasting notes for this beer describe it as, spicy, fruity and robust. I don't agree with the spicy, it was no where near as complex as that. It was on the fruiter side of ale, the best out of the three for the warm weather. I can also attest to the robustness, I could happily drink this over a Sunday roast or in a beer garden mid July.

6/10

Mischief 

This was the last out of the beers I wanted to try, things were getting busy at this point and the good stuff was running out. I was left a little disappointed. Although very nice, it tasted a little too close to the commercial ales like Abbot or Ubu. At 5% it will get you tipsy and the taste is refreshing, just a little boring to write about.

5/10