Honeydew Time Machine

Name: Organic Honeydew.
Brewery: Fullers, The Griffin Brewery Chiswick, London.
ABV: 5% (bottle & tap)

Style: organic golden ale.

Availability: Available in most good supermarkets and numerous pubs in and around London and Berkshire.

What I paid: £1.99 at Waitrose.

Try if you like: Crisp, cold lagers with some actual flavour, imagine a floral, honeycomb-inflected European lager with very little hoppy bitterness.

As I write this, the sound of pouring rain is yammering on the rooftop and the trees outside the window are sagging in the wind: it is fair to say that British Summertime has gone the way of the Mayfly: deserted pastures familiar and not set to return again for another year. The autumnal damp is outstretched before us and that overcast blanket of smearing grey they call 'sky' is with is until June next year.

Beer can break the seasons. There is no need to despair. Summer sunshine can be and has been bottled. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Fullers Honeydew.

The gold of a July sunrise has been locked into every single bubble and drop of this pale straw organic brew shimmering with a colour like pale honey which, coincidentally, is what the beverage takes its name after as the bee's best is used in the brewing.

As one would expect from such a marriage, the flavour is an incredibly refreshing and sweet ballet with the dryness of hops with very little bitterness resulting at the finish. Instead, you are treated with a crisp edge and malty flourish just as the sip ends which isn't too far removed from territory usually occupied by a continental lager. 

Indeed, Honeydew is a wonderful pint to quench that dusty summer thirst with - it is instantly refreshing with a flavour that holds itself best when served chilled as you would a lager. Richness is spared in favour of keeping the whole experience light and somewhat nectared as the honey intermingles with the bubbles allowing for this to be a true Summertime quaffer. 

Every drop of this ale takes me back to summer sunsets when my friends and I would partake of a glass or three up at a pub in Harrow-On-The Hill from which we could see the microcosm of countryside they have up there and watch a fairer part of the capital be bathed in the late day glow. If you yourself ever tire of the grey and the drudgery: fill a glass with some of this beer and lay back and think of Summer. 

Review: Fullers London Porter.

Name: London Porter.
Brewery: Fullers, London.
ABV: 5.4%
Style: Porter.
Season: Winter.

Availability: Can be found in supermarkets around late Autumn/Winter. 

Try if you like: Guiness original, Hobgoblin, Old Peculier, Anchor Porter.

A beer style from the Industrial Age that died out after the impact of wartime restrictions but today, very much alive and well and enjoying a massive and well-deserved resurgence (and aren't I grateful for it!) - the Porter is a very dark brew with a bittersweet chocolate-coffee appreciation. Fullers Lonond Porter is a classic expression of the breed: brown, crystal and chocolate malts give it a distinct treacle brown, reminiscent of dark chocolate and a flavour encompassing coffee, dark demerara with the background notes of vanilla. You would also be forgiven for thinking that someone from the brewery went out and captured essence of logfire too as there is a delightful, subtle smokiness within this is festive draw. After having one myself yesterday (after seeing the delightful new Star Wars film with a good friend at the IMAX Empire) I certainly felt my yearnings for the dark side of brewery and the joy of this pint is that it is surprisingly light for its punch and complexity, bringing balance to the force (please forgive me). I dare say, at 5.4%, I certainly felt its influence but not in the stomach meaning that this would sit very nicely as an after-supper pint to be sipped and savoured - good lord, in front of a roaring fire if we could all arrange a Dickensian evening. This is a smashing tipple and perfect for this time of year when preserved fruits, chutneys, rich puddings and logfires abound. A drink that manages to capture that smokey stillness of a Winter's day. Sublime and indulgent but won't induce a post-roast dinner coma! Tis the season to be Porter! No festive beer appreciator should allow themselves to miss one of these this Winter-time. For me, it is more traditional than that monstrous steamed pudding or chestnuts roasting on a fire. If you could shove a sprig of holly in it without causing a health and safety disaster, I'd say it was more Christmassy than Santa's jingling bells!