A beer dripping with class: Schiehallion.

Name: Schiehallion

Brewery: 

ABV:

Style: pale lager.

Found it: My wife picked it up in Waitrose.

Try if you like: The dryer, hoppier side of life like Hop House 13 by Guinness, IPA's of both American and European persuasions and dare I say it, champagne!


You smell this beer coming a mile away. The nose is one of the crispest I have ever scented. Amid this current soul-melting heatwave, the intensely crisp, fresh and hoppy aroma of this wonderful lager will lift your molten soul to cool summer nights amid freshly mown meadows and sunsets golden and bronzed. Forgive me my poetic pretensions - this does smell incredible and certainly invites the drinker with tantalizing promises of refreshment and on that front, it certainly does not shy away.


Just because a beer is refreshing doesn't mean it has to be light on flavour as so many pale beers tend to be (think Corona - light on body and character sadly) - this just simply is not the case with Schiehallion and it entertains an unconventional juxtaposition: it is both refreshing and rich. The taste has depth; a depth not too far removed from treacle sweetness which is mashed down and tempered by hop bitters and the finish echoed the spirit alcohol tinge you sometimes attribute to brandy - perhaps why the champagne element is cited by the on-bottle blurb. According to said blurb, whole pressed hop cones feature in the alchemy and this may account for this floral nose and intense aromatics. It is a beer of distinction and needs to be sampled. If, like me, you prefer more malt and brown sugar with your beer, then you may find its hoppy grassiness a little overwhelming but I just couldn't ignore the complexity of this nectar's architecture and so I was seduced by it. I couldn't help but appreciate the form. I can't believe I just referred to a beer's flavour as being architecture...

Brooklyn Summer Ale

Brooklyn Brewery, NYC
ABV  5%
Found in Waitrose.
Style: "Sunny Pale Ale"
Try if you like: beers with a balance of hops and malty sweetness like Golden Champion by Badger in the UK.

I love this brewery - I really do. Their sublime Brooklyn 'Lager' is found in most supermarkets these days and has made a name for itself for being the most boisterous and flavoursome lager daring to sit in fridges and on shelves: it's a full-bodied ale in lager garters - a surprise to delight and intoxicate in equal measure. Their output seems to be gathering momentum here in the U.K. which only fills me with excitement and anticipation (they do a porter!). My darling wife bought me a selection of five beers for a little surprise on a Friday after a particularly bothersome week at work and the Summer Ale was one of these five. 

If you, like me, constantly waver between wanting a crisp, malt-flecked refreshing lager and a flavoursome traditional ale, then you have won through this achievement by the New York demi-giant: it delivers the character of a British ale with the refreshment and zest of a lager. This is also reflected in the weight of the brew which sits lightly in the stomach as much as it dances on the tongue: all the flavour of ale but with the air of a lager but not too much fizz either. There's some crisp hops breezing through the notes and the most intriguing hint of hay. Forgive me getting a little Wordsworth here but I must confess to the aroma field grass that has just been passed by rain and is now basking in rejuvenating sunshine. It's a delightful brew that captures the essence of what it is to enjoy a beer outdoors. But one; try one: you'll want more, this I assure...you.