4-4-2 Ale
Shepherd Neame Ltd

 

A 500ml clear glass bottle with a BB of July 2012. This one has a football theme going on, so I'll toast the end of the season. The label mentions the use of ten hop varieties - but I'd be surprised if Shepherd Neame have produced a hop bomb.

Poured into a Sam Smith's pint glass. A clear golden-amber with good carbonation and the odd floating fragment. Forms a large head of creamy white foam that lasts for a few minutes before subsiding. Aroma of subtle grainy malt with restrained notes of stewed hops and a hint of grassiness. A faint whiff of butterscotch and ale yeast in the background.

Tastes of grainy malt with a dry, bitter finish. Notes of stewed hops and fruity ale yeast (the signature Shepherd Neame flavour). A slight carbonic acidity, like mineral water, and a mild bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is light, with prickly carbonation. Rather astringent. Aftertaste of bitter stewed hops.

Pretty average, though drinkable enough for the price. The balance is OK, but the flavour is dull. Mostly stewed hops with little aroma - not sure where the ten hop varieties are (unless they meant ten hop cones per batch :). The light character is quite refreshing, but once again SN demonstrate their lack of imagination - this ale is technically fine but it doesn't command your attention. Oh well - grab one for a hot summer's day.

Clear 500ml bottle, 'The Ten Hop Beer With A Kick' according to the front label: poured into an Abbot Ale glass tankard 1st Nov 2011, the bottle being best before Jul 2012.

Orangey, amber colour, clear and bright, on top a lovely full head of snow white bubbles, extra bubbles can be seen rising through the body to replenish the crown.

The smell is hoppy (well what did you expect?), but not overly so, those un-named varieties obviously counteract each other in the aroma department, as they did in the taste!

I thought I was going to get some sort of West Coast of the US hop monster brew, this isn't anywhere near that, in fact it isn't even a standard UK hoppy IPA for hop content. It isn't even really bitter, not even at the end of the mouthfeel.

Strange taste, the malts try and blend in with those aforementioned hops but don't really mix too well. Couldn't take to this beer at all, it's another of Shepherd Neames cheap supermarket brews and it shows. It seems to me they've found some old half sacks of hops and crystal malts: thinking we'll not waste these, lets brew another beer to fill supermarket shelves and make some easy dosh.

Purchased at the Lidl supermarket, coming in a clear 500ml bottle, BB July 2012, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass. Notes: The beer label states that the beer is brewed using 10 different hop varieties, without specifying “which” types, though.

A: pours a dark yellowish straw to light golden hue, coming with a fluffy off-white head with very good retention and fairly moderate and constant carbonation.
S: initially upon cracking open the bottle, the skunky smell of gas fills the nostrils; in the glass, the aroma is predominantly mildly-sweet citric, backed by a touch of vanilla-ish sweet herbs, very light grainy malts with a bit of salty-sweetness, and a little hints of tropical fruits’ sharp aroma. Overall, it’s very hard to imagine how 10 hop varieties are blended so… harmoniously, that not much from each variety seems to stand out apart from that traditional Goldings’ aroma…?! Quite refreshing, though.
T: lightly effervescent, the foretaste is delicately grainy&biscuity malty (like lager malts + traditional English pale malts) with a faint reminder of boiled root veggie, yet immediately engulfed by dry, spicy bitter, and citric/zingy hoppy main flavour, followed by a flow of hop bitterness flooding down the sides of the tongue. The finish is dry, sufficiently bitter, with a bit more grainy aroma to linger, and somewhat rough/chewy as well.
M&D: the carbonation level is never over the top, and the palate is generally smooth for a filtered and pasteurised bottled beer, while at the same time maintaining a medium body that makes the ale taste not thin at all against a rather light flavour profile. Not a bad one, despite the lack of complexity hinted by the 10-hop hook… Very quaffable.