January is weird, isn’t it. On the one hand, I feel this nagging sense of opportunity to ‘be better’ and do more, on the other, it’s all a bit bleak. The financial indulgence, the food, the enjoyment of the past few months catch up with you, and then, someone somewhere whispers: ‘Dry January’?
Now it’s not for me to preach, all I can say is I tried Dry Jan once and ended up ordering more takeaway instead. Everything in moderation as my mum would say.
Tryanuary then seems like a happy medium. Not “let’s have a session,” more ‘try something new’. Which feels very January to me.
But where to start? If you have been thinking of seeing what all this craft beer is all about, or are indulging in a bit of ‘Tryanuary’, here’s what some of our Berkshire experts recommend:
Please note, I’m looking at the kind of beers you might describe as gateway beers. For most of us it was probably Green King IPA, London Pride or (if you were really lucky) Jaipur. I’ll do something on the more wild stuff you can try next.
Andy Parker – Owner and Head Brewer at Elusive Brewing
Northern Monk – Faith – 5% Hazy Pale Ale – Faith is soft and hazy Pale Ale is an ideal introduction to craft beer. It’s lightly sweet with a gentle bitterness and notes of stone fruit and pineapple. It’s flavoursome without being all up in your face. Think tropical fruit juice in beer form and you’re getting close. As a bonus, it’s available with your weekly shop in most supermarkets.
Elusive Brewing – Level Up – 5% Red Ale – Unlike Elusive’s best-selling Oregon Trail, Level Up is not assertively bitter. It balances caramel and toffee from the malts with pine sap and orange citrus from the hops. Eminently drinkable and balanced. Try this if you like a pint of Best Bitter – it brings more malt flavour and hoppiness but without overwhelming the palate.
Sean Knight – Head Brewer at Siren Craft Brew
Siren – Lumina – low abv, light fresh aroma and flavour and punches above its weight but is highly drinkable. It covers most bases for a great enjoyable beer, but also has complexities if you look for them. It’s also available in 6L kegs for Perfect Draft!
Internationally, Sierra Nevade Pale Ale 5.6% – is fairly common in the UK now, but a great beer which covers both a good malt backbone and a great hop profile. It is also a beer that has been right at the fore-front of Craft Beer for over 30 years and is still as relevant as it ever was. Hopefully you caught them at our Time Hops II Festival last year.
UK Based – Landlord from Timothy Taylors. Great cask beer, that’s full of flavour and history but remains very relevant and delicious. Unique to the UK but a great example of a great cask ale.
Pellicle Mag: Timothy Taylor’s Landlord – A Polyptych of a Pint
UK Based Craft – DEYA’s Steady Rolling Man – great gateway beer into modern hazy craft. At 5.2% its easy drinking and very drinkable. It covers all the great tropical hop characters you would like to see but also very drinkable while being very flavourful.
Mikey Riley – Sales at Stardust Brewing
It’s whatever style that gets you into the scene right?
At Stardust I’d say the gateway would be Midi 4.6% Pale Ale, it’s an easy drinking Hazy Pale with some tropical tasting hops, it’s not as thick as the others out there so it’s an easy intro to the market and scene.
Non Stardust and from a supermarket; Life and Death by Vocation is fantastic. Also Cherry Le Choufe!
What’s your gateway beer recommendation? What got you into Craft Beer in the first place? Let us know in the comments.
