A Premium Bitter/ESB (Extra Special Bitter)
Sharp's Brewery, Rock, Cornwall 5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 1637-01. Price 24.50. (500ml bottle)
The colour of early autumn leaves, a rich red brown like the leather from an old Winchester chair.
There's a lot going on in the nose, with lots of fruity wine-gum notes mixing it up with some spice and a pinch of sea salt. Strange, but nice.
Maybe it's Sharp's location looking out over the Cornish coastline and across the Atlantic, maybe it's the fact the beer is born in open shallow Cornish square fermentation vessels or maybe it's me trying to will something into reality that isn't actually there but I always get a distinct 'coastal' flavour in Sharp's beers, as though the wind has taken the spray from an Atlantic wave and blown it over the brewery and into the beer. Up front it tastes of melted Saturday sweets, spice and soil with a medium body and fairly mild carbonation that is typical of many British ales. Then the Atlantic washes in, with a riptide finish of sea salt bitterness and an aggressive dryness reminiscent of a tannic red wine.
ESBs have the malty backbone to take rich red meat and game head on. Sharp's Harvest Ale's fruitiness would pair well with reindeer and its earthy edge would play off nicely with some freshly picked forest mushrooms fried in butter.
Nerd note
Sharp's is a modern UK brewery (only founded back in 1994) that has become a national name in the UK thanks to its insanely drinkable Doom Bar bitter. The brewery's insistence on only using whole dried hop flowers rather than pellets and the fact the beer sits in open Cornish Square fermentation vessels are perhaps the reason why the 'Sharp's flavour' of spicy fruit and an assertive bitterness run through many of their beers.
Rating
3.0 of 5
You know the eyes, nose and mouth images you use, do they Secretly belong to beer Sweden trev?
No. BeerSweden Trev’s eyes are bright red.
That’s unfortunate – poor guy
The colour of this beer is the most beautiful I have seen, except for some black-as-the-pit-of-hell stouts.
The alcohol tastes were well hidden, but I felt a little tipsy after the bottle. Perhaps beer after training on a wednsday night isn’t always ideal.
Yeah, I really like the color of it too. And the salty bitterness. Not too bad actually.
This is a really nice beer; malty and tangy. I’m from the south-west of England and this reminds me of the beer my dad makes.