Ampersand Brew Co. are based in south Norfolk and I know them as a brewery that makes excellent versions of classic styles, and while I’ve had a few of their beers before, it was really good to sit down and taste through their full range, which included one of the best beers I’ve drunk all year.
Pulpit Pale is 5% and brewed with UK Cascade and Olicana. I love these hops and love seeing British brewers showcase and celebrate them. The hops give some light grapefruit and tropical fruits, clean and fresh and fruity. The malt base has some breadcrusts and toast, which adds sweetness to balance a fairly high bitterness. Lovely stuff.
Camphillsner is Ampersand’s 5% lager which uses UK malt, German hops and Czech yeast for a pan-Euro Pils that’s a lovely bright yellow colour with distinctively pithy and floral German hops, a firm bitterness, and a gentle maltiness to hold it all together.
Bidon, a 3.9% session pale brewed with Citra and El Dorado, has a nice light haze, a very juicy aroma with tropical squash, lemon, peach and apricot, with a refreshingly light body. This is one I want to sit in the sun and drink by the pint!
On The Wing is a 4.5% Hazy Pale brewed with Amarillo, Citra, Ekuanot and Chinook. It’s got soft and juicy stone fruits and lots of lovely lemony flavours like homemade lemonade, bitter lemon and lemon sherbet.
Talking of lemons, Low Lemons is a 3.4% pale brewed with lemon juice and zest which is like a zingy and refreshing shandy with a bright lemon flavour. A great summer beer!
Honk Short Of A Gaggle is a 4.2% Cold IPA with Stata, Simcoe, Citra and Chinook. It’s got a lot of grapefruit in the aroma, lemon, pithy citrus, and a fairly robust malt body – I’d say too much malt for a Cold IPA (which I want to be like a light American lager), and it reminded me more of just a really nice pale ale.
Basil Blush is a 3.3% raspberry and holy basil sour. It’s bright red, there’s tart raspberries, it’s very dry, and the holy basil comes through with its aniseed and clove-like flavour. The aroma actually reminds me a bit of root beer, which is unexpected. I’m not sure if they got the holy basil aroma they were hoping for in this one, as that clove flavour is a bit jarring.
Pixelate, a 4.1% Citra and Azacca Pale Ale, was unfortunately not a good can and mine had some wild yeast in there, giving it a funky brettanomyces aromas and too much fizz.
And that leaves their Doppelbock. It’s 8% and has been aged in second-fill oak whiskey barrels for six months. It’s a deep ruby brown and the aromas are glorious. Vanilla, dark caramel, creme brulee, sticky toffee pudding, dark cherry, chocolate brownies, but it’s not sweet, and it’s bitter with some oak tannins, and a dryness at the end which means it’s layered and complex in flavour. It’s an absolute triumph of a beer. Delicious! I’m not sure if the Doppelbock will be in many more Brewser boxes, but drink it if you get the chance.
That was a fun box to drink through!