The weekend has landed party people! Time to sit back, relax and crack a beer. And we have the wise words of a guest reviewer named simply, OJ, to accompany those aforementioned actions… 

Have a goodun 🙂  

 

BREWER: Siren Craft Brew, Berkshire, England

STYLE: White IPA

ABV: 4.5%

VESSEL: 330ml brown bottle

TWITTER: @sirencraftbrew

INSTAGRAM: sirencraftbrew

DATE OF POST: 16th March 2018

 

JYMI SAY’S…

Right, just to get us started, this is a mighty fine beer! Mighty fine. For me it’s offering something a little different too. It’s hard to say exactly what but the first sip drew a Kenneth Williams style, ‘OOOOOH ELLO’ out of me from nowhere! I think the taste is somewhere between lemon and biscuit, which sounds a little odd I know, but honestly it’s superb! What you definitely get taste wise from each sip is a very intense flavour which quickly fades away into something quite lovely but then somehow that intensity returns with the aftertaste. None of this is a bad thing by the way, it is a very enjoyable flavour rollercoaster believe me.

The nose is full of brilliant citrus and WT is smooth enough seeing as she is fairly carbonated. I wouldn’t put it down as a classic session ale but it does have a real moreish feel to it that would keep you coming back for more, no doubt.

Now the packaging has left me all at sea (please excuse that unintentional pun but I’m just going to roller with it).

Do I like the look of White Tips? : Yes

Do I love the look of White Tips? : No

Why don’t you love the look of White Tips Jymi? (didn’t see me interviewing myself when starting this write up!) : Well the concept is great with some of the finer detail like small pieces of citrus fruit within the wave being an understated highlight, but there is just something not right about it.

Is it the rolling waves and white tips not being large enough or even clear enough? Not sure.

Is it the beautiful blue ocean colour not sitting particularly well on a brown bottle? Not sure.

Is the name too small on the label? Not sure.

Is it probably a mix of all these things? Yeah, I’d say so. As I said, I do like the look but think with a few tweaks could be way better.

But the main thing is White Tips tastes splendid and if you happen to see one, go ride that wave baby.

Jymi’s Rating: 82%

 

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

White Tips is a cracking beer.  There’s no two ways about it.  It is cracking.

Packaged in a standard brown bottle, the label stands out and states what this beer is about: citrus and hops. 

On the nose, White Tips is heady.  It’s many things that you’d dream of in a craft brew: fruity and deep.  One could keep on sniffing this all night long and never get bored. 

The taste is magnificent.  It’s what you’d hop(e) for and more.  What it lacks in length, it makes up for in intensity.  And my goodness me is it intense?  Trust me, it’s so intense that the bottle is gone before you realize that you’ve even started. 

I can’t say much more for White Tips: try it (now) / (when available again as this is a seasonal beer) 

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Sammy’s Rating: 87%

 

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 84.5% 

 

OJ SAY’S…

Let’s kick things off with a confession. As a beer drinker, I’m lazy. I keep it fairly simple and don’t give many different types or varieties much of a try, ‘I drink what I like and I like what I bloody well drink’ as Boycott would probably say. I once asked for a lager at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival. So I’m not used to picking up on the fine nuances that these small breweries are so keen to create and differentiate themselves in what is now a burgeoning industry full of myriad competitors.

You’re no doubt thinking, ‘nice choice of guest reviewer S&J’, but I mention it because I almost treated this like any other beer but upon firing it open, I poured it, and then stopped, for a variety of reasons. I hadn’t expected the smell or the colour of it and it stopped me in my tracks. I don’t really pay any attention to my sense of smell when it comes to beers but what a beer to have drawn for my guest week because pouring this one took me hurtling back through time; lost Glaswegian lunchtimes in the Republic Bier Halle (tagline – ‘it’ll all end in biers’, genius), chunky pint glasses of Hoegaarden with orange garnish, memories of stag dos in Germany as cloudy as the beer, right back to the box of ‘Beers from Around the World’ I was given as a regular Christmas present.

Basically, I hadn’t realised it was going to be a weißbier (sharp, me) and upon pouring it I was intrigued and drawn back to the packaging. I suddenly started noticing the citrus fruit slices next to the wheat, the diving mermaid tails, all of this framing the crashing green, white tipped wave. It all suddenly clicked, I was driven to their website, the Sirens of Greek (well, Finchampstead) Mythology drawing me in further and further, lulling me to learn more about this beer and the brewery, hooking me like the barbed tip of the S on the logo… Let me know if I get too carried away.

Anyway, once I’d finished obsessing over the packaging and had actually read the back, I realised it was their expression of a Witbier (which Google informs me is Dutch rather than the weißbier of Germany) and it was time to get stuck in. In short, it’s a cracker. A very smooth taste with just the right levels of citrus undertone ensuring there was no tang or sour taste that can haunt beers like these sometimes. It’s very smooth, I’m not sure it’s one I could get into a proper session on but the appeal of these beers is the chance to drink something very different, incredibly refreshing, but one to move on from after a few.

I’d thoroughly recommend getting yourself down to Siren Craft Brewery if you get a chance and getting your hands on this Seasonal IPA to give it a try for yourself. Really enjoyed their website as well and how passionate they seem about their calling (love the recipes).

Lucked out with this one, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

OJ’s Rating: 84%

 

 

MOB review next weekend: WOLF WARNING IPA by SOFIERO BREWERY

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