BEER REVIEW: 294

BREWER: Innis & Gunn, Lothian, Scotland

STYLE: Golden Ale

ABV: 6.6%

VESSEL: 330ml clear bottle

DATE OF POST: 29th May 2023

 

JYMI SAY’S…

Though this sounds like a very interesting brew from the description on our bottle’s label, before even opening this beer up I cannot get over just how bad the over all packaging is. And I think once again it is the fault of putting a golden beer in a clear bottle. And as I’m fairly sure I have mentioned in a previous review of a golden ale in a clear bottle, it look’s like a flippin’ piss bomb!

Anyway our label tells us that THE ORIGINAL (great name btw) has been aged for 51 days with this process bringing out the natural flavours of vanilla, toffee and oak.

And do you know what, they have nailed it to be fair. This trio of tastes are definitely present at varying times as you make you way through the brew, and there is a definite hint of a single malt during the aftertaste early on too. I wasn’t getting any vanilla at all until around half way down my glass. However, don’t let me falsely lead you into thinking this is a great beer because untimely I don’t think it is.

Look, I&G have done well to create the flavours they have from a clearly well thought out process. But I want more of those flavours. See what type of beer this was brewed to be I want The Original to be richer, fuller, boozyer, more of a treat. But instead it comes across a little half baked. I’m no brewer, though I can’t help but feel that the style of Golden Ale to carry these flavours may have been an error. It needs something a little darker to really get the message across.

Good effort but not without issues.

Jymi’s Rating: 59%

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

For a beer named The Original, it doesn’t have a name that’s very, well, original.  However, it does have a look and USP (whisky cask matured) that’s quite original. So maybe the name is original. 

Enough tying myself in unoriginal knots. Onto untangling what this beer’s all about. 

The whisky hint definitely has impact from the first taste. It’s quite pleasant as well. The maturing process gives The Original a woody, almost smoky, taste. Eventually this gives way to sweetness laced with vanilla back notes. While I quite like this, I couldn’t take too much of it. But, Innis and Gunn have addressed that by packaging this beer up in a tasting sized bottle of only 330ml. 

Clever. 

Well, after the initial intrigue, The Original doesn’t do too much else that’s original. 

Overall, it’s a decent drop with enough about it to give some interest. But there’s not enough extra about it to elevate the beer to anything special.   

Perhaps more novelty than novel. 

Sammy’s Rating: 69%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 64%

MOB review next weekend: SIGNALS by ATTIC BREW CO.

Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017

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M O B 2023