Day 153, Beer 153 - Shepherd Neame's "Christmas Ale"

Today's Beer

Name – Christmas Ale

Brewer – Shepherd Neame

Classification – Strong 'Seasonal' Ale... (Read on for 'clarification')

Strength – 7.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Sumptuous deep chestnut. Unashamedly traditional. (But appearances can deceive...)

On the nose – Fruit cake and ginger biscuit. (Fragrances can also be deceptive...)

On the tongue – A genuine surprise. Light bodied, vividly hopped, complex, dynamic and really rather wonderful. (Taste never lies.)

On the subject – Well, I think you'd better just read on for this one...

On the market – Considering Shepherd Neame's usual coverage, and considering the time of year, I'd say just close your eyes, make a wish, and it will be there.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

Well, I was steadfastly determined not to review any 'Christmas' beers whatsoever this year until those insolent scoundrels at Shepherd Neame forced me into a corner by sending me a free one.

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

The simple reason why I'd (briefly) intended to avoid so-called festive beers is because of the quite baffling effect 'Yuletide' seems to have on the entire brewing industry. By and large, breweries tend to use this time of year as an opportunity to toss away the tremendous levels of respect which they've carefully generated throughout the previous 11 months by handing over responsibility for their Christmas campaign to the nearest newborn gibbon.

As an inevitable result of this handover, the end of year market becomes flooded with all manner of daftly-named, garishly-labelled bottles, most of which are filled with beers that the head brewers (who have also been temporarily replaced by infant gibbons) know will hardly be consumed after December 25^th, so they really ought not to be the finest ales their company will ever produce.

This, of course, is a very cynical view and not at all an accurate representation of what truly goes on.

Much!

Whatever the realities, I just tend not to get all that excited about the beers which show up at this time of year. So it was with an air of quiet suspicion that I cracked the lid on today's beer.

Very shortly afterwards, however, my spirits began to rise.

When I say 'rise', I mean really quite significantly, and I began to believe that the suspicions I've recently been harbouring about 'Britain's Oldest Brewery' might actually be correct.

In short, I think something's happening at Shepherd Neame.

I think changes, subtle at first but increasingly evident lately, have been taking place. And if this beer alone is anything to go by – I'd say those changes are enormously positive ones.

This brewery's aforementioned claim to be 'Britain's Oldest' is one for the lawyers and historians to quibble over, but there's little doubt that these guys have been around for a heck of a long time, and they've been based all along in the very heart of the UK's very own 'Hop Mecca', more commonly known as Kent.

Tradition, then, is the byword here. And there's little doubt that Shepherd Neame continue to brew some of the most traditional feeling English ales around.

But I'll say it again, I reckon something's been happening at this brewery.

Some of their recent releases have had a markedly different feel to them. Their 'Double Stout' and 'India Pale Ale' have a very nice 'retro chic' look to them, and by all accounts they taste a lot more 'exciting' and 'interesting' than plenty of recent offerings from all the other big name firms.

This is great news this brewery, as I firmly believe the best chance the big players have of maintaining their dominant market position is to wake up – and fast – to what's been going on lately outside their castle walls.

But it's also great news for us, because brews like Christmas Ale are heralding some significant new levels of innovation and creativity, whilst also keeping the ghosts of Xmas beers past firmly very firmly at bay.

I kid you not, today's beer makes for an unspeakably gratifying experience. It's robust, but it's equally zesty and packed with vitality. It's bold, but it's equally delicate and playful. It's big, but it ain't at all overbearing – and where they hiding all 7.0% of that ABV is anyone's guess.

Lightly toasted nut and granary loaf malts stand firmly but gracefully at the base, holding aloft a dynamic swirling mass of crisp citrus, deliciously nuanced herbs, a ton of fruity twangs from the likes of apricot and pear – and a finely woven tapestry of mild spice which contains absolutely none of that bullish intensity which can needlessly ruin (for me at least) so many Christmas themed brews. These are beers, after all – not curries!

'Faversham's finest' are quite simply rewriting the Yuletide rules, and I couldn't be happier about it. There's no 'comedy' festive title here, the name couldn't possibly be less gimmicky. There's no whacky recipe mindful of its own very short shelf-life, just delicious well-balanced beer that could be enjoyed all year round. Perhaps most significantly, this is a beer that will (very cleverly) appeal to drinkers on both sides of the evolutionary divide.

The gibbons are back in the zoo.

Shepherd Neame's usual head brewer is definitely back in the building – with a head crammed full of fresh and exciting ideas.

Christmas is most definitely coming.

Day 138, Beer 138 - Shepherd Neame's "Canterbury Jack"

Today's Beer

Name – Canterbury Jack

Brewer – Shepherd Neame

Classification – Bitter

Strength – 4.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Deep, vibrant orange gold.

On the nose – Nutty. In fact, this is a very serious nut-case, bordering on insane. (Yes, I know. Poor gag.)

On the tongue – Well, there's a real story here. (Read on...)

On the subject – Legend has it that the cask version of this started life as an occasional beer, but punter power was victorious yet again, and Shepherd Neame grasped the opportunity to entirely funk-up the recipe as well as the branding. And, for the benefit of all you cynics out there – yes, 'funk-up' was spelled correctly.

On the market – Perhaps not the most ubiquitous title of the Shepherd Neame range, but still found regularly in Tesco. For the housebound, the agrophobic and the downright lazy there's always Tesco.com.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

What do we really mean by 'proper' beer?

Well, due to the abundant variety of humanoids currently active in this mortal realm, I'd say we all mean something every so slightly different when we use such subjective words.

So let me quickly narrow it down and simply deal with what I mean by 'proper' beer.

I'm feeling the need to do this because as soon as I'd taken my first sip of today's beer, I found myself declaring (actually out loud) that 'proper beer' was exactly what this ale was.

But a few short moments later, and I began to wonder what this spontaneous statement actually meant, and I soon realised it's nothing like as straightforward as I'd first imagined.

Having eventually set aside a bunch of unsatisfactory definitions for 'proper' such as 'superior', 'conventional', 'normal' and even 'as God intended' - I was finally left with the only definition which seemed to comfortably fit with Canterbury Jack.

'Proper, traditional tasting beer'.

However, this was actually quite a surprising conclusion to reach, given the label's claim that this a 'contemporary ale', a claim which is ably enhanced by some uncharacteristically 'groovy' Shepherd Neame branding. (Uncharacteristic, but also rather nice.)

So what had gone wrong here? Why did the label and the branding say one thing, whilst the beer itself was saying something quite different, albeit deliciously so?

It didn't take long for this question to be answered, and the solution came in the form of a few further sips. Sips which revealed that some seriously clever work has gone on in the Shepherd Neame brewhouse.

What they've managed to do here, is create a beer which takes all the best aspects of 'traditional ale' and then puts the most marvellous and ingeniously subtle ultra-modern 'spin' on its own identity.

By steering clear of heavy syrupy malts, by keeping the malt flavour contributions limited to savoury biscuit and nut themes, and by then ramping up the citrus via some vividly bitter hops, they've created a beer which bridges that pesky ever-widening gap between the two increasingly divergent and resolute camps of 'old beer' and 'new beer'.

As such bridging attempts go (and there are quite a few on the market these days) this is easily one of the most successful. Whether these bridge beers will ultimately manage to keep the warring camps connected is yet to be seen. Many would argue that its a question of either/or, and there's no hope for the 'in-betweeners', but I'm pretty sure that fine beers like this one are enough to make anyone stop and reconsider.

I really can't imagine any beer lover not finding this brew 'perfectly drinkable' at the very least, and I can imagine plenty more who would notch it up as an instant favourite. It's just a question of those drinkers and these bottles coming together in the first place, and that all depends on bridging beers 'catching on'.

Personally, I think it's something of a missed opportunity in the industry at present. The recent surge in creativity and experimentation within the world of craft brewing has created a divide, everyone knows it, and these 'bridge beers' should now be announcing themselves as such, taking on a clear self-identity all of their own, rather than trying to appeal to both opposing factions all at once which can make them appear aimless, mercenary, or as something which ultimately reflects nothing that either side really 'stands for'.

With the creation an entirely separate 'third way' camp – a clearly defined middle-ground alternative wherein good all-round, well-balanced beers are the name of the game – a whole new following could be found.

I live in hope...

In the meantime, this is a perfect example of this new, connective kind of beer.

Nutty, biscuity, richly bitter, medium bodied, crisp, dry, and greatly enhanced by dynamic highly-hopped citrus – this truly is a beer to suit every taste.

And, on reflection, perhaps that's what I really meant by 'proper beer'.

Day 132, Beer 132 - Shepherd Neame's "Whitstable Bay"

Today's Beer

Name – Whitstable Bay

Brewer – Shepherd Neame

Classification – Organic golden ale

Strength – 4.5% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Rich amber gold.

On the nose – Juicy bitter fruitiness and some lovely 'autumnal forest' deeper notes.

On the tongue – More of those juicy bitter fruits (notably apple, clementine and black cherry) with some herbal and spiced hints, underpinned by beautifully pitched 'woody' malts. Very rewarding.

On the subject – What can be said of Shepherd Neame's beers that hasn't already been said in pubs and homes all across Britain? Well, probably nothing, but here's a hugely verbose review anyway. Having said all that, not all of their brands are as well known as others, and today's beer is one I'd personally never tried before. The 'organic' status of this brew suggests the stirrings of a slightly more 'ethically sound' approach, and when influential market leaders like these guys set these kinds of examples it bodes well not just for the industry and the planet, but also for beer in general, because my experience is that organic beers nearly always taste better.

On the market – Most major supermarkets, and plenty else besides. Those with larger appetites should go to the brewery's own online store, where huge case-loads of these beauties are freely available. (The word 'freely' has various meanings, and this is probably not the one you were hoping for.)

On the whole – 8/10

Full Review

Every ale approaches you in a unique way.

Some sneak up on you, others smack into you like freight trains. Some prioritise first impressions, others prefer to win you over more gradually. There are those beers that scream 'love me love me' until we finally do, as well as one or two that make us break down in tears wishing liquid had never been invented.

But every once in a while you come across an ale that is so chilled-out, low-key and contentedly self-possessed, that it really couldn't care less what you think about it. Such beers don't concern themselves with the undignified business of making an 'approach' to a drinker. They just know we're going to like them anyway, so they simply bypass all the hassle.

Whitstable Bay is one of those beers.

It's one of those brews that you find yourself still ordering at the very end of the night, without having once considered a change. I believe the phrase is 'easy-drinking'. A well-worn phrase indeed, but one which few beers could better encapsulate.

The continuous gentle sway between bitter dryness and zesty fruit sweetness is delightfully hypnotic, and it quite literally never settles on either side. This is actually quite ingenious, and it's a good example of the kind of clever tricks this well-oiled brewing team likes to incorporate into their creations.

There is a sense of freshness and immediacy to the drink, and it could be argued that this vividness stems from the use of organic ingredients. Given what I've already observed during these reviews, I wouldn't be at all surprised about that.

But given that very same set of prior experiences, I can't help but wonder how much more of that dynamic vitality might be enjoyed if this beer were to come bottle-conditioned.

It seems to me that the marriage of organic produce and bottle-conditioning is pretty much made in heaven, and there would surely be no better way to see that theory put to the test than with a beer like this.

Maybe one day they might give that a try. I'll certainly be skipping around like an utter lunatic if they ever do.

There's no question, though, that this beer in its current form is a delicious way to be tantalized in the meantime.

It really is a hugely enjoyable ale. 

The Shepherd Neame Team!

I dare you not to drool!

Many of my UK-based readers will be wondering how this blog has managed to run for so long without featuring a single beer from Kent's famous Shepherd Neame brewery.

Basically, it's hard to move around in this part of the world without bumping into a bottled ale from this company at least once per day, their share of the domestic bottle market is easily as large as anyone else's. In fact, it often seems as though UK law actively prohibits supermarkets from opening their doors without having at least three Shepherd Neame titles on their shelves.

If such a draconian law were ever to be passed - I suspect very few people would grumble!

Anyway, Shepherd Neame have clearly grown tired of waiting around for their beers to make an appearance, so they've gone and organized a grand entrance all of their own.

Marvellous!

The beers are (from left to right)...


Christmas Ale - (Strong seasonal ale) 7.0% ABV

Goldings - (Golden ale) 4.5% ABV

1698 - (Strong ale) 6.5% ABV

Master Brew - (Bitter) 4.0% ABV

Canterbury Jack - (Pale ale) 4.0% ABV

Spitfire - (Premium bitter) 4.5% ABV

Bishop's Finger - (Strong ale) 5.4% ABV

Whitstable Bay - (Golden ale) 5.0% ABV

Late Red - (Premium ale) 4.5% ABV


It's high time these brews were on board, and I can't wait to get properly acquainted with every one of them.

Stay tuned!