Barney's Brew
Hilden Brewing Company / Taproom

500ml bottle from Asda supermarket, Fermanagh (£2):
Definitely more of a wheat ale than a hefeweizen on first look, this one was a light amber to golden colour with a centimetre tall, foamy white head on top with okay retention at least. The nose was relatively sweet with some butterscotch that was a little sickening after a while & some wheat coming through as expected. Towards the middle I got some banana ice cream & sugars on the nose but it was a little off smelling & strange on the nose in truth.The taste of the beer really wasn't much better, in fact it was outright terrible with a lot of banana & butterscotch but not quite as sweet as the nose & with no balance to it either; again it seemed strange & off-putting throughout with a little corn & touches of sugar in there too. There really wasn't much else to the beer in truth save for some cloves & light spices right at the end but it was definitely a beer to avoid & one of the worst I've had from the brewery thus far.

Pours a slightly hazy golden color with white head. Tons of bread and wheat on the nose; follows onto the palate. Light bodied and refreshing. Finishes with more wheat. Somewhat one-dimensional but still pretty good.

 

 

A 500ml bottle with a BB of Aug 2014, so it's just out of date. Picked up last year as part of Sainbury's 2013 Beer Hunt. Belfast Bap wheat beer - described on the label as a wheat beer spiced with cardamom, coriander and black pepper. Named after Barney Hughes, a famous Belfast baker.

A: Poured into a straight pint glass. A clear golden-amber hue with some faint floating sediment and good carbonation. Yields a large head of creamy white foam that lasts for a few minutes before disappearing.

S: Aroma of savoury spices with hints of cardamom, coriander, subtle grainy wheat, earthy yeast and stewed herbs. Possesses a mildly sweet quality.

T: Tastes of aromatic spices and mild wheat, with a dry finish. Notes of cardamom, coriander, grainy wheat, husks, earthy yeast and stewed herbs/leaves. A twinge of harsh cardboard in the background. Well-attenuated, followed by a rough, herbal bitterness upon swallowing.

M: Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and dry, with pleasant carbonation and an insubstantial body. Pretty astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of bitter stewed herbs, spice and faint wheat.

O: Intriguing effort, though not the best spiced beer I've ever had. It looks OK, while the aroma and flavour are dominated by aromatic cardamom and coriander underpinned by delicate wheat. The bitterness is slightly acrid. Body is a tad watery. Alright but the bitterness of the spices comes through just a bit too much to be pleasant - the malt could be beefed up a shade to compensate. Drinkable but no need to hunt it down.

 

 

500ml brown bottle: BBD end of Aug 14, poured into a UK pint sleeve at home on 22 Oct 13.

Clear golden colour with a head that soon left the scene.

Grain and spicy nose, wheat mostly, with traces of coriander leading the spice trail.

The taste was an interesting blend of flavours: biscuity malts, spiced hops and summer fruits.

Refreshing in the mouth with a dry finish, medium bodied and different to the 'run of the Mill' brews that were also in the Sainsbury Beer Challenge this year.

 

Bottle. Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt 2013.
Unusual spicy aroma - ginger? No something else.
Golden straw colour.
Again, it's now more cardamom on the tongue. Gentle bitterness.
Lightly carbonated.
Perhaps good as a summer ale. OK but not really my thing.

 

On cask at the Hilden Beer Festival.

Pours reddish gold with thing head. Huge candy malt nose. Twiggy malts with orangey boiled sweet/hard candy fizz after. Medium to light, lively and sticky.

The orange tingle reminded me of nothing so much as Berroca. This is a wheat beer? With some of Hilden's middling regular offering, can't see why this one isn't made full time.