Maybe there are people out there who enjoy Greene King IPA. Maybe there are scores of them, all meeting up at weekends at special rallies and conventions up and down the country. Maybe there are fan clubs with membership numbers running into the tens of thousands. Maybe we'll find our next pint served in the Holy Grail itself. I did an informal survey before writing up this post, and it turns out that the most frequent, by a substantial margin was variations on a theme of 'well, it's drinkable at least'. To me this seems wrong. Wrong that one of the most successful and visible real ales up and down the country shouldn't aspire to more. Wrong that people still drink it when a short jaunt away are a host of wonderful producers who are better tasting and more interesting. But enough of my rant, let's get to the beer itself. It presents with a coppery floral aroma and vanilla tones on the aftertaste... and very little else. When bottled it is overly fizzy, almost stepping into lager territory. Indeed, it was suggested during the tasting that this might be a good non-offensive ale to be used as a gateway drug by recovering lager drinkers. With that amount of fizz on the tongue, any flavor that may originally have existed is long gone. A novice mistake from a veteran brewery. 5.5/10 - each time I try it, I hope for better.
No comments:
Post a Comment