I'm partial to a ginger beer. I mean a beer brewed with ginger, not a barely-fermented over sweet bottle of incessantly-marketed mush. And the stronger the ginger is, the more I like it. When it starts to feel like I've swallowed a grater, I know the brewer's got it right for me.
And part of the attraction of a potent ginger beer for me is in its blending potential. Bring together the raggedy not-hop bite of ginger and the brooding malts of a stout and the results can be satisfying. Mix the likes of the Marbles Ginger and Chocolate and you have a world-quality dessert in a glass. So a nuclear-strength ginger beer (with a solid stout on standby) was a shoo-in for an Advent appearance.
Expect for the fact that I've ended up with something far more refined. Derby-based wholefood shop Sound Bites has a small but perfectly formed selection of organic bottles and I often pop in to buy Mrs Scoop some Dunkerton's cider. This weekend a Pitfield beer caught my eye - labelled as 'Sound Bites Christmas Ginger Beer' I'm imagining it's a customised name of the ginger beer featured on cask at this year's Pig's Ear festival.
It had a very hazy pour - partly my heavy hand, partly a chilly bottle, partly the nature of the beer - and a slim disappearing head. So far, so meh. Clear gingery aroma, mind, and plenty in the flavour although there's no fire. Instead, there's a lemon-meringue sweetness, a little of that earthy spice itch on the roof of my palate but nothing earth-shattering.
The sips got me thinking - thin. Not enough body. Half a glass changed my mind; 5% abv seems effortless, flavours are uncontroversial.... actually quite drinkable. But even so... this is supposed to be a Christmas beer, so I'm looking for bolder flavours, rougher edges. Pitfield have inadvertently brewed a great summer ginger beer, six months too late/early.
Pitfield beers can be ordered from their website and bought at several shops. And it seems they appear at farmer's markets too.
Tonight's gift: Lashings of Ginger Beer. Because, until now, I haven't really given radical feminist burlesque much of a mention.
Tonight's picture: the mere mention of the word 'ginger' means I have to steal something from b3ta. If you're a b3tan, you'll know why. If you've never welcomed b3ta into your life before, go get some. But if you don't like it, it weren't me that sent you there. Right?
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