Yeast India Company

An aficionado's quest to promote beer culture in India. A brewsader for the Good Beer Movement. Reviews. Anecdotes. Humour. Information.

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Flying Dog Double Dog DIPA

Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery

Type: Double IPA

ABV: 11.5% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Orange-brown, cloudy with medium carbonation. Typically big, frothy american head 4/5

Aroma: Grapefruit, Citrus, woody, cedar 8.5/10

Taste Notes: Toffee, nuts, citrus, alcohol 9/10

Palate: Slick and velvety in consistency, big malty alcoholic sweetness and a light bitter finish 3.5/5

Overall: There's a certain comfort in certainty, especially when it comes to things that are close to you. Strange as it may seem, when it comes to beer, I'm old-fashioned that way; I like to know wxactly what it is I'm drinking and I expect the beer to mostly conform to its style (ballpark - sort of like virtuoso guitar playing within the context of the song)

So when I sit down to drink an American beer, I expect a hoppy, bitter, aromatic concoction. Especially when it's from a brewery that's given me so many great beers of that ilk.

Fair to say, the Double dog shattered all my conceptions. For starters, it's a frightful 11% ABV - that's in Belgian tripel territory (and we know all about those crazy drunk Flemish loons and their seductive boozy ales). It's a double IPA - I expect to have my tongue curled by bitterness, instead I get a malty sweetness that's more like an English ale. Thankfully, the grapefruit aroma is comforting - at least something's familiar!

This is a big, bold, brash yet magnificently disguised beer. Worth experiencing, even if only for the sensory rush.

17/20

Overall Score: 

4.2/5

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Allagash Tripel ale

Brewer: Allagash Brewing Company

Type: Abbey Tripel

ABV: 9% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Golden amber, soft carbonation and a rapidly diminishing head 3/5

Aroma: Yeast, cherries, herbal 8/10

Taste Notes: citrus, yeast sourness, caramel sweetness 8/10

Palate: Medium bodied, soft on the palate, malty smoothness in the beginning and mild bitterness in the finish 4/5

Overall: I often get strange looks from people when I mention that on my next trip to the US, the first city to visit on my list is Portland, Oregon. Not a Blazers fan or anything, it's just that Portland is to craft beer what Tokyo is to sushi and Australia is to dangerous animals.

One of this craft beer mecca's most famous residents is the Allagash Brewery. So, you can imagine our delight when the last goodie bag from the US arrived with not just a beer from Allagash, but their award winning Tripel Ale.

As I've probably mentioned a gazillion times before, if I could just choose one style of beer to have for the rest of my life (and I hope such a day never arrives), I'd pick trappist ales. I'm not just a fan, I'm a devotee.

Thus, I'm more likely to be fussier about my abbey dubbels and tripels than about others. As far as tripels go, the trick is in how subtle the alcohol kick is, considering the 9% ABV. Allagash's tripel masks the alcohol bite beautifully in a bouquet of herbs, notably coriander, which may lead you to believe this is a session beer. It's not. Stop after 3 or you'll find yourself walking into things.

17/20

Overall Score: 

4/5

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Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout

Brewer: The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery

Type: Sweet Stout

ABV: 5.7% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Dark brown with an amber hue, creamy pour with a cola-coloured head, soft carbonation 3/5

Aroma: Coffee, burnt sugar, grains 7/10

Taste Notes: Cocoa, coffee, mild hops, mild sweetness 8/10

Palate: Surprisingly thin-bodied for a stout, soft on the palate but not creamy enough for a milk stout 3/5

Overall: One of two stouts we had during our last tasting, and definitely the pick of the bunch. The pour itself was slightly strange, as it didn't have that same creamy "grip" that is characteristic of milk stouts. Aromas and taste were bang-on; all that coffee-cocoa goodness with a very mild lactose-edge.

It's the body I had a slight issue with; personally would have preferred it a little "fuller" and with a bit more lactose profile. Still a very good beer, mind.

15/20

Overall Score: 

3.6/5

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Unibroue Don de Dieu

Brewer: Unibroue (Sapporo)

Type: Belgian Strong Ale

ABV: 9% (approx.)

Country of Origin: Canada

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Restaurant)

Appearance: Cloudy orange-yellow (almost a mussambi juice colour) with a foamy head. Relatively high carbonation for this style 3/5

Aroma: Esters, citrus, banana, cloves 9/10

Taste Notes: Fruity, sweet, spicy, tart 10/10

Palate: Lingering tart sweetness, subdued alcoholic warmth and almost no bitterness in the finish 4/5

Overall: For the craft beer nerd, there's no dirtier word than "macro". It conjures up images of big beer corporations and fat cats who peddle fizzy, insipid, tasteless garbage in the name of beer. No self respecting brewhead ought to have anything good to say about "macrobrewers", surely?

Then again, extreme stances can lead to inherent biases. I'd rather adopt a "Don't knock it till you've tried it" attitude (not just towards beer, but music, food, life in general). It shouldn't surprise you than that some "macros" are producing absolutely world class beers that even the most hardened of hipsters can't pooh-pooh.

Unibroue is one such brewer. Taken over by Japanese giant Sapporo in 2006, they have retained their reputation for making absolutely brilliant beers with the signature Quebecois artistic bent that pervades through the region. They're still hipster in their own way, not retailing anywhere outside North America and producing challenging brews like the Maudite, the Trois Pistoles and my favourite, the Don de Dieu.

Everything about this beer is brilliant; from the cloying fruity aroma to the heady alcoholic sweetness, to the fact that this is a rare wheat based tripel. As with all Unibroue beers, there is a latent sour spiciness, possibly from the yeast they use. I have made it my personal mission to get this beer to India somehow!

After all, "Don de Dieu" translates into "Gift from God". Even as an affirmed atheist, I'd have to agree

18/20

Overall Score: 4.4/5

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Beer style of the week: Barleywine/Old Ale

When we at YIC were thinking of our first batch of imports to get in to India, there were considerable doubts about the choice of beers, The Trooper was a no brainer, obviously. However, the Old Tom posed a tougher question - As brilliant a beer as

it was, was the Indian drinker ready to embrace a beer of this complexity and robustness?

A few months down the line, and all our doubts have proved rather silly. The Old Tom has been a rip-roaring success and what we believed to be its weakness has turned out to be its defining USP - People LOVE its complex aromas and the alcoholic tingle on the palate, plus the dense richness of course!

Why are we talking about Old Tom in an article titled as an introduction to barleywines? Because although it's more of a traditional English old ale, the Old Tom has won the "Best Barleywine" award at several international events. Martyn Cornell (author of the delightful zythophile blog) reckons that there is "no meaningful or historical difference" between the two styles. 

So what in Beelzebub's good name IS a barleywine?!

Don't get thrown by the name. Barleywines are still very much beers, ales to be more precise; just with a significantly higher alcohol content! Starting at 8% and going as high as 17-20% these are not your easy sipping, genteel brews. Varying from orange-yellow to deep dark amber-red or brown in colour, they are usually extremely mild in carbonation. 

The high alcohol content is proportional to ester formation and you can get a lot of fruit and resin in the nose. Unlike most beers, there's hardly any noticeable hop bitterness, as the malt dominates the profile. American style barleywines, however, have a higher hop concentration that results in an aggressive, hoppy yet boozy beverage. English barleywines are much more malt-forward and sweeter in comparison.

Like we said, these aren't beers built for sessions or casual drinking. Beautifully rounded and complex, they go amazingly well with red meats or desserts. We're hoping to get a few more barleywines into India soon, but for now, go get an Old Tom and experience this rare and sophisticated beer style today!

To be served in: Snifters (to stop the complex aromas from escaping)

Popular examples: Robinson's Old Tom (available in India through YIC), Firestone Sucaba, Hair of the Dog's Dave, 3 Floyds Behemoth

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Gateway Brewing IPA

Brewer: Gateway Brewing Co.

Type: IPA

ABV: 5% (approx.)

Country of Origin: India

Tap/Bottle: Tap (Pub)

Appearance: Bright amber, translucent body with a creamy lasting head. Soft carbonation 4/5

Aroma: Hops, grapefruit, floral, mild toffee 8/10

Taste Notes: Citrus, biscuit, slight nuttiness 9/10

Palate: Soft texture, medium body, hoppy and clean with a bitter smooth finish 4/5

Overall: Quite possibly the most awaited beer for me over the last 6 months. I had my first taste of the prototype at the Gateway Brewery on a beer-soaked sunday a few months ago and couldn't stop gushing about it since. It's finally on tap at select pubs in Mumbai and Pune, and hopefully will become a national phenomenon soon. With Arbor Brewing's Raging Elephant and Doolally's upcoming IPA (which I'll review later today), it looks like the IPA is finally making its presence felt in the Indian craft brew market!

If you're as big a fan of American West coast-style IPAs as we are, you will fall head over heels for the Gateway IPA. It's that distinctive grapefruit aroma from the Cascade hop, that signature bouquet that hits the nose almost immediately, that marks this out as a truly great beer. Add to that a refreshing, crisp bitterness minus any of the fizz associated with overtly carbonated brews, and you have a "proper" IPA, one of the best I've had in a long while, at least on this side of the globe. 

I cannot possibly recommend this any more enthusiastically. Don't take my word for it. Go out and try one NOW!

17/20

Overall Score: 4.2/5

Note: Gateway's IPA along with their other beers are now available at a number of pubs in Mumbai and Pune. Check out http://www.gatewaybrewery.com/where-to-drink/ for a complete listing

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St. Bernardus Abt 12

(Note: Stock image used. My picture was too hazy to use)

Brewer: St. Bernardus Brouwerij

Type: Abt/Quadrupel

ABV: 10.5%

Country of Origin: Belgium

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Store)

Appearance: Reddish brown, beautiful brown-flecked creamy long-lasting head and almost no carbonation 4/5

Aroma: Dry fruit, esters, alcohol, yeast 9/10

Taste Notes: Sweet, fruity, malty, licorice candy 9/10

Palate: Full bodied, creamy texture and softness with an alcoholic warmth that cocoons you 4/5

Overall: As I've waxed eloquent before, Belgian ales, and in particular, trappists, are the champagnes of the beer world. Sophisticated and backed by centuries of tradition, shrouded in mystique, they are by far my favourite style of beers, though rare to find (or afford) in this part of the world.

Imagine my astonishment then, when I discovered the venerable St. Bernardus in a little liquor store in Bangalore! Two kinda in fact, the Tripel and the Abt (which is the quadrupel). Don't get thrown by the names - I'll address this in a later post. For now, let's just say that among the royalty of beer styles, the quadrupel is the Emperor.

The great thing about this, of course, is the fact that this beer is available AND affordable (around 200 bucks a pop in retail and about 380 bucks at Bootleggers) so you really shouldn't miss a chance to sample this beautifully boozy, sweet, rich, venus de milo of a beer. It'll change the way you defined "beer", trust me

18/20

Overall Score: 4.4/5

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Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout

Brewer: Left Hand Brewing Co.

Type: Sweet Stout

ABV: 6%

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Store)

Appearance: Rich dark chocolate brown, creamy, soft but slight head and the smoothie like texture thanks to the nitrogen infusion 4/5

Aroma: Bourbon (the biscuit, not the whisky), Cocoa, Vanilla, Roasted malt 8/10

Taste Notes: Sweet, chocolate, coffee 8/10

Palate: Thick, creamy texture and full body, espresso like consistency and warm, dark chocolate finish 4/5

Overall: Of all the beers Riday brought back from Japan, this was perhaps the most awaited one, thanks to Rahul Mehra's endless paeans to its awesomeness. Straight off the bat, we fell for its unassuming, unpretentious nature - we love the "Left Hand" name and logo (It's surprising how much these little details can make a difference to the beer drinking experience)

Of course, all that would have been a moot point had the beer itself been a disappointment. Thankfully, we can report that it more than lived up to its billing - pouring like a beautiful chocolate malt shake with all the creaminess from the nitro. A little bit of trivia here: You may have seen the nitro capsule in beers such as Murphy's Stout here - Left Hand doesn't use a capsule. They actually bubble their beer with nitrogen at a ridiculous 70 PSI pressure (Just as an example, Rahul mentioned that he had tried experimenting with nitrogenating a homebrewed stout and the bottle cracked at around 15 PSI. How these guys manage to do it remains a mystery. So you see, it's not just a craft. There's some serious science behind it!)

Often, all this gimmickry can be used to mask deficiencies in the beer itself. None of that nonsense with Left Hand's Milk Stout. A delicious, fulfilling stormer of a beer. A pity that we only had one bottle of this

17/20

Overall Score: 4.1/5

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St. Erhard Kellerbier

Brewer: St. Erhard

Type: Kellerbier

ABV: 5%

Country of Origin: Germany

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Sample)

Appearance: Clear bright amber, diminishing but creamy head. Soft but significant carbonation 3.5/5

Aroma: Caramel, almonds, light herbal 7/10

Taste Notes: Caramel sweetness, malt, roasted grain, 8/10

Palate: Medium bodied, not too dry with a refreshing sweetness upfront and a slight metallic sourness in the finish 3.5/5

Overall: This is not your bog-standard, traditional German lager. Kellerbiers as a style are quite niche, far removed from their Bavarian compatriots famous the world over. For more info on the style itself, check out my "beer style of the week" post from last week.

Therefore, it makes it all the more interesting that this has reached our shores before many of the traditional favourites such as Augustiner, Hacker Pschorr and the likes. We're certainly not complaining.

For those of you used to crystal clear, crisp German lagers, the unfiltered, creamy nature of the St. Erhard will be a bit of a surprise. Three different malts - Vienna, Pilsner and Cara-Munich - find their way into this beer lending it a rich, creamy sweetness, balanced by more hops than you'd generally find in a German beer. Refreshing, delicious and definitely a welcome addition to the YIC portfolio!

15/20

Overall Score: 3.7/5

Note: This beer is already available in Delhi, at the Beer Cafe and other outlets. We will be bringing it to Mumbai around the end of January. Stay tuned for updates!

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Beer Style of the week: Bamberg Rauchbier/Kellerbier

Since we spoke yesterday about our meeting with Vikanshu from St. Erhard, about bringing the beer from Delhi to Mumbai and Bangalore, I thought we'd look at the Bamberg style of beer that St. Erhard represents, to restart our #beerstyleoftheweek series.

When you think of Germany and beer, what comes instantly to mind is the Oktoberfest, with its steins of German style lagers, raucous atmosphere and beautiful beer maids. However, what goes unnoticed amidst the festivities is that all the beer tents at the Oktoberfest serve, in essence, very similar and limited variants of the German lager style.

What a lot of beer purists (and beer nerds) will tell you is that the REALLY interesting German beers come from further up North, in a little town called Bamberg - in particular, a style of beer known as "Rauch (smoke) bier (beer)" and Kellerbier, a style that dates back to the middle ages. In typical German fashion, these beers are fairly uncomplicated.

The essence of the Rauchbier style is in the drying of the barley malt. Most modern drying techniques for a majority of beer styles make use of a kiln, where heat is imparted to the malt but keeping the smoke from the kiln away from the wet malt. Rauchbiers, conversely, use wet malt that is dried over an open flame. The wood/coal used is very important in determining the kind of smoky aromas and flavours to be infused in the malt. Oak, Beech and peat are some of the common types used.

Basically, think of similar techniques used to smoke and cure meats, e.g. hickory-wood smoked bacon or ham. The smoky, spicy flavour of these beers can take a first time drinker by surprise, but once you get past that, these are hugely enjoyable, flavourful, intense beers - low in alcohol (around 5% ABV in general), big on taste and soft on the palate.

Kellerbiers are German lagers that are unfiltered and unpasteurized. Like a lot of traditional Belgian ales, these beers are matured and fermented in natural vaults, resulting in a smooth, naturally cloudy beer that's rich in vitamins (from the yeast). These are usually hoppier and more bitter than most German lager styles and can range in alcohol content from 4-7% ABV

In the recent past though, we did get to sample two fine specimens of the two Bamberg styles - the St. Erhard mentioned earlier is a classic Kellerbier, and the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen - a brilliant and famous rauchbier that Riday found in a bottle in Tokyo. 

To be served in: Dimpled Mug, Lager glass or a Stein

Popular examples:

Rauchbier: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen/Urbock, Flying Dog Dog Schwarz, Sam Adams Bonfire

Kellerbier: St. Erhard, Hacker Pschorr Anno 1417, Triumph Kellerbier

Note: St. Erhard is currently available in Delhi, and will be available soon in Mumbai and Bangalore. Follow YIC on facebook - www.facebook.com/YeastIndiaCompany and/or Twitter - @YeastIndiaCo for updates!

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Christoffel Wijs

Brewer: Sint Christoffel Bier

Type: Dunkelweizen

ABV: 6%

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Store)

Appearance: Cloudy dark orange, frothy long-lasting head. Medium carbonation 3/5

Aroma: Caramel, cinnamon, cookies 6/10

Taste Notes: Mild caramel sweetness, spice, fruit, light citrus 6/10

Palate: Medium body with a surprisingly oily texture. Smooth, burnt sugar finish 3/5

Overall: It's been a while since I reviewed, or even tasted for that matter, a new wheat beer. Found this as part of a big stash I picked up from a speciality liquor store in JP Nagar in Bangalore. What struck me instantly was the bottle with that distinct cap. Always exciting to find something out of the ordinary when it comes to beer, particularly living in India.

Unfortunately, the beer by itself dampened all the excitement. Apart from a couple of stand out breweries, I'm not the biggest fan of Dutch beers, and sadly, this did nothing to change my stance. The lingering alcoholic afterburn is the biggest surprise, not what I expect in a Dunkel. There was no yeasty sourness either, possibly due to age and poor storage.

Wheat beer lovers, and there are plenty in India, might find it somewhat to their liking, but for me, there was nothing in this beer that would bring me to buy another pint.

12/20

Overall Score: 3/5

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Rogue Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red Ale

Brewr: Rogue Ales

Type: Amber Ale

ABV: 5.2%

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Pub)

Appearance: Reddish Amber with a muddy, cloudy appearance, medium speckled head. Light carbonation 3/5

Aroma: Hops, pine wood, floral 9/10

Taste Notes: Mild caramel, citrus, berries, light smoky flavour 8/10

Palate: Light body but syrupy texture, almost no fizz. Dry, metallic bitterness in the finish 3.5/5

Overall: I must temper this review with the caveat that it may be affected by the sheer delight of finding a bar in India that stocked not only beers from Rogue, one of my favourite American breweries from the mecca of craft beer (Portland, Oregon), but a wide variety that included Belgian giants like Christoffel, St. Bernardus and Achel.

I've developed a proclivity for Amber/Red ales of late, not least of all thanks to the accessible and delicious Red ale at Toit brewpub. This beer just confirmed it. The best thing about an Amber ale is its aroma, and the St. Rogue has bags and bags of it, thanks to dry hopping (when they add an additional amount of hops while storing the beer,  not for bitterness but for aroma).

Quite simply, this is like a woodland autumnal walk in a bottle. Immense beer.

16.5/20

Overall Score: 4/5

Note: This is available at the Bootleggers pub, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore, as well as some select retail outlets in Bangalore. Have we mentioned how much we love this city?

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Beer Style of the week: English Bitter

With the first pint of Iron Maiden's landmark beer "The Trooper" in India just around the corner, I thought I'd talk about the beer style that characterizes this and so many other historically "British" beers. It's not at all surprising that Bruce Dickinson chose The Trooper to be a proper English Bitter; this beer style is as synonymous with the UK as fish & chips, tea and world cup failure (yoink!)

For us at YIC, this beer also represents a significant challenge w.r.t. the Indian market. Most of this has to do with the perception that we just don't like things that are bitter (The western world is often startled at how much we sweeten our tea and coffee but we can't help it if we have a sweet tooth!). Beer, in general, is thought of as a bitter drink, and along comes this beer style that proudly dwells on this fact!

However, there's so much more to this beer style than just its "bitterness". British beers were, for the longest time, either very mild low ABV ales or warm-bodied stouts and porters. The Bitter style came from brewers who wanted to differentiate these ales from other mild brews, through the addition of pale malts and more hops.

Most are gold to copper in colour and are light bodied with low carbonation. With ABVs in the range of 3-3.5 %, bitters have a very mild alcoholic profile, making them perfect for quaffing by the gallon. Where these beers stand out from their compatriots is in the use of hops; bitters are hopped early so they add substantial bitterness to the brew (around 20-35 IBUs) but with much lesser hop aroma (characteristic of Americal pale ales/IPAs). Most have a fruitiness/nuttiness in the aroma and flavor, that comes from theuse of traditional English malts.

Variants known as English Special Bitters (ESBs) or Premium bitters don't differ greatly from the template except that they magnify its characteristics - IBU of 28 to 46 and upto 5% ABV

To be served in: Traditional Nonic Pint glass

Popular Examples: The Trooper, Old Speckled Hen, Bluebird Bitter, Adnams Bitter, Brakspear Bitter, Fuller's London Pride

Note: Fuller's London Pride is already available in India, and The Trooper will be by Dec 2014. Adnams is on the way as well!

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Toit Pumpkin Ale

Brewer: Toit Brewpub

Type: Festival/Seasonal Ale

ABV: 5.1%

Country of Origin: India

Tap/Bottle: Tap (Brewpub)

Appearance: Deep Amber with a orange hue, rapidly diminishing head and very soft carbonation 3/5

Aroma: Pepper, mild floral, citrus zest 7/10

Taste Notes: Caramel, pepper, cardamom, citrus, sweet 7/10

Palate: Medium bodied, slightly syrupy, sweet, refreshing mouthfeel and little or no aftertaste 3/5

Overall: Back at one of my favourite craft beer haunts for Diwali, and they had a special on offer, a sweet, spicy pumpkin ale to commemorate the festive season (Halloween as well, perhaps). I've never been the biggest fan of spiced ales, barring perhaps the stunning Route des Epices at Dieu Du Ciel, as more often than not, it's gimmicky and feels more like a beer cocktail rather than a subtle incorporation of adjuncts.

I'm happy to report that the pumpkin ale at Toit doesn't fall prey to this. It's almost a perfect representation of Bangalore weather - the pumpkin sweetness and citrusy hints for not-quite-summer and the warmth of cardamom and pepper for not-quite-winter. Very drinkable, but a tad on the sweeter side for my personal taste and hence, not very sessionable.15/20

Overall Score: 3.5/5

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Adnams Ghost Ship

Brewer: Adnams

Type: Golden/Blonde Ale

ABV: 4.5%

Country of Origin: UK

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Sample)

Appearance: Bright orange with a soft blonde hue, medium carbonation and reasonable diminishing speckled head 3.5/5

Aroma: Hops, Herbal, Floral 8/10

Taste Notes: Citrus, hops, light caramel malt 7.5/10

Palate: Light bodied, refreshing with malt sweetness upfront and a spicy hop bitterness that doesn't linger too long 4/5

Overall: Procrastination is a real bitch. Was supposed to have written this last week but a combination of illness, day job and grunt work put paid to those plans.

A common debate that rages amongst Indian beer aficionados, brewers and bar owners centres around the distinct difference in the popularity of the IPA, outside India and within India. There are some who are adamant that the Indian market isn't ready for a style as bold as the hop-loaded, beautifully bitter IPA but there are others, me included, who think it a great disservice to reduce the IPA as just another "bitter" beer. (It's sad that there isn't a SINGLE IPA you can buy in Mumbai but the good folks at Gateway Brewing are remedying this very soon. Watch this space!)

I do agree, however, that it might be a good idea for there to be a transitional beer, to assit people in going from the wheat-based ales that are so popular in India today, to adopting more "challenging" beer styles.

With its low ABV and beautifully refreshing, light body, The Ghost Ship is one such brew. On first pour, the citra hops just jump out of the glass, permeating your senses in citrusy, floral goodness. If Body Shop made a beer, it'd be close to this! The bitterness is there, but subtle and understated, making it an immensely sessionable beer. For us at YIC, getting this to India is a no-brainer. Remember the name; you'll be screaming for this ghostly delight soon enough!

16/20

Overall Score: 3.9/5

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Adnams Southwold Bitter

Brewer: Adnams

Type: English Bitter

ABV: 4.1%

Country of Origin: UK

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Sample)

Appearance: Deep amber opaque orange in colour, very soft carbonation and a creamy small but sustaining head 3/5

Aroma: Pastoral, woody, pine, toffee 7/10

Taste Notes: Herbal, floral, nutty, mild citrus 7/10

Palate: Medium bodied, easy drinking with a buttery creaminess and a lovely smooth bitter finish 3/5

Overall: Haven't done a review in a while coz we've been so busy at YIC HQ with the formalities in getting our first shipment of beers down. But in the midst of all that, we did recieve an AWESOME care package from our friends at Adnams Southwold in the UK - a massive sampler set consisting of 5 of their finest for us to taste and contemplate bringing to India.

While all the beers had a unique proposition to offer, two of them stood out on all our parameters, which included how well we think these beers might work with the Indian palate (which is why we had to ignore the barleywine) - The Southwold Bitter, reviewed here, and the Ghost Ship, which I'll review tomorrow.

This is a classic English bitter - very little carbonation, denser than the average pale ale, with a creamy mouthfeel that is characterized by how the head sticks to the glass. An immensely drinkable beer, not too heavy or alcoholic; one that you can see yourself nursing at a pub over football conversatons.14/20

Overall Score: 3.4/5

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Robinson's 'The Trooper'

Brewer: Robinson's

Type: English Bitter

ABV: 4.7%

Country of Origin: UK

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Sample)

Appearance: Golden Orange with a hint of amber in colour, small diminishing head and low carbonation 4/5

Aroma: Fruit, Roasted Malt, Floral, Caramel 8/10

Taste Notes: Citrus, mild hop, malty 7.5/10

Palate: Light, zesty body and fresh floral mouthfeel with a surprisingly bold, bitter finish 3.5/5

Overall: This is what started it all; the idea of YIC and the vision for the #goodbeermovement that followed - this beer is what gave birth to it. When you've been an Iron Maiden fan for as long as we have, it's impossible not to get excited about something like this. 

Quite often, when a big name lends itself to an offbeat product like this, the results aren't as good as you'd expect. Bands have lent their name to video games, apparel, even restaurant chains (Alice Cooper's Cooperstown) with varying degrees of success. But beer and heavy metal are just a natural fit, and I honestly don't need to get into the reasons behind that. EDM has Vodka, Jazz has Whisky, Heavy Metal has beer. Simples.

So we weren't quite sure what to expect when we finally got a bottle of Trooper in our hands. Let's face it, even mediocre beer would sell if you put a name like Maiden behind it. But here's the thing - Iron Maiden don't do mediocre. Bruce Dickinson, their legendary frontman, was actively involved with every step of the process, from determining the beer stle, to the ingredients, the brewing as well as the name and packaging!

When you put that much love and devotion into a product, chances are that the outcome will be excellent. The Trooper lives up to its name; a bitter, zesty, citrusy, hoppy, and decidedly BRITISH ale, this is going to delight beer fans and Maiden fans and the ones who occupy both camps. At a low ABV, this will be the PERFECT concert/gig/music festival beer, built for consumption in large quantities and shared with friends!

Coming VERY soon to a bar/restaurant/shop near you! 18/20

Overall Score: 4.1/5