Online retailer Flavourly has linked up with six well-known breweries for a first batch of bespoke small-batch beers.
They were kind enough to send me a box to try, complete with corn snack and a copy of their magazine, highlighting other beers in their stock.
Flavourly says its Small Batch Originals concept has been designed to encourage the ongoing development and launch of new, high quality, boundary-pushing beers. It will be working with top UK breweries to bring them to market.
Like a lot of the beer-drinking world, I’m a great fan of an IPA. I’m a long time fan of Marston’s Old Empire, and this is the beer my currant favourite, Penzance Brewing Co IPA, brewed just five minutes from my home, is based upon.
They’re very traditional English style brews, but I don’t mind a hazy, juicy craft beer now and again. Verdant is also close by, and they lead the way with the style, although I’m also very fond of another Cornish exemplar, Pipeline Brewing Co. Seek them out!
You can find out more about Flavourly, its regular beers, and its Small Batch Originals at flavourly.com.
My notes on the beers
| Anspach & Hobday The New English IPA (5.5% ABV) Deep rich amber, with a white head, the aroma is spicy, peppery, with orange pith notes. There’s a solid malt backbone, bready with caramel, supporting orange citrus hop flavours, that pithiness still present. A quite astringent bitterness on the finish. This one grows on me with every sip. The closest to the classic English IPA style here. | Brew By Numbers India Pale Ale, Sabro & Mosaic (6% ABV) Light yellow, with a white head that dissipates quickly, the aroma is musky, dank, and piney. The dankness carries through to the palate, but is cut with zesty sharp citrus and stonefruit notes. There’s almost a sourness. Zingy and refreshing. | Siren Craft Brew Harness Your Hops (6% ABV) Hazy golden with a white head, this has big tropical fruit notes on the aroma. Huge hop notes of pineappple, passionfruit, lemon, and pine balance against a light biscuit malt background. Good bitterness on the end. Very refreshing! |
| Tempest Brewing Co Parallel Dimesion (5.2% ABV) Hazy yellow with a thin white head, this is a curious cross between and New England IPA and a New Zealand pale. The aroma has dankness, but also an intense white wine fruitiness. It really is like nothing I’ve tasted, slightly pear droppy, with white grape notes and a hint of candy sweetness in the background. An intriguing experiment. | Wild Card Brewery Helter Skelter (6.1% ABV) A very hazy sand colour, with a white head. There’s a fruitbowl of a nose featuring pineapple, mango, and passionfruit. There’s a very robust body thanks to the use of malt, but beautifully balanced while releasing those tropical and citrus fruit flavours. | Wiper and True Simple Things IPA (6.2% ABV) Hazy gold with a white head, there are resinous notes on the aroma with some orange citrus. On the palate, it’s fruity and delightfully well balanced, with some biscuit malt notes. I get pineapple, stonefruit, and passionfruit, with some light bitterness. |
