Tuesday 2 July 2013

Brain's Boilmaker



6.5% ABV

I picked this beer up in my local supermarket during their Father’s Day promotions alongside a couple of other beers they don’t normally stock. The beers shifted fast but haven’t made it to the ‘normal’ beer stock, shame but I’m guessing that is a management decision from Head Office.

The idea of major breweries doing a little off shoot ‘Craft’ brewery is a tad odd and to be honest seems to be a way of the major brand having a on-trend side rather than anything else but there have been some interesting beers come out of these things.

Overall I quite liked this beer which was collaboration between mini-Brains brewery, Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham. As it says on the bottle it is an IPA matured using Penderyn whisky infused oak chips in casks from Penderyn. However if you are expecting a beer like some of the American or Scottish whisky beers, it is a bit of letdown if I’m honest, Penderyn is a very light whisky and struggles to impart anything other than a whisky sweetness to the beer. This is pleasant, don’t get me wrong but it’s not the bold mingling of two strong distinctive flavors into a unified beer that I was expecting from the label.

Maybe with a different whisky it would be more but it is hard to say, overall I did like it though, the beer could have been way too sweet with the high alcohol and what I have said above and the hops worked to tone it into a very drinkable beer. I would happily buy this again when I see it.

3 comments:

  1. I thought it was better than Innes and Gunn as it wasn't quite so cloyingly sweet. But that's not really saying much.

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  2. I gave it a go after reading your post, but it's not really for me. I'm not keen on the spirit taste in beer.

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  3. Going to Edinburgh for a week soon, I note a lot of restarants seem to serve Innis & Gunn as their scottish beer offering... I really dislike their beers though!

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