White Shield - Worthington's (United Kingdom) 5.6%

White Shield - Worthington's (United Kingdom) 5.6%

Deep gold in a glass with an aroma with a bitter touch, a bit of honey and some wood tones that border on resiny. Light flavour of malty, toasty sweetness, lightly spicy or herbal with the barest hint of red fruit esters but with a somewhat bitter and resiny finish. In English India Pale Ales the hops flavours are much less bombastic than in their American IPA cousins and White Shield is no exception; however, while White Shield has the ideal flavour spectrum for an English IPA it seems awfully muted. The flavours are all quite subdued so while White Shield is on point it is a bit timid, even for an English IPA.

Tanaka - Corsaire Microbrasserie (Canada - Quebec - St Laurent)

Tanaka - Corsaire Microbrasserie (Canada - Quebec - St Laurent) 4.8%

Beer bonus! For some reason the can was actually overfull. Ok, well, moving on.



Tanaka pours a slightly cloudy pale gold. Gingery taste like ginger powder while the ginger aroma is more like fresh ginger. Also some typical wheat flavours make appearances in both the taste and the aroma: coriander and floral flavours make a nice combination with the ginger. Fairly bitter aftertaste but Tanaka is overall relatively mild for a flavoured beer even the ginger flavour is fairly muted and only a part of the other beer flavours. Towards the end of the beer there is quite a lot of sediment but it doesn't change the flavour very much. Overall a fine flavoured wheat, less heavy handed than some others.

Alexander Keith's Dark Ale (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 4.1%

My first impression is that it is highly carbonated and really mild tasting despite being so dark that it was barely translucent. Skunky like regular Keith's with a bit more of a malt taste and slightly bitter.

Alexander Keith's Ambrosia Blonde and Tartan Ale are both really good but I found the Dark Ale didn't have the depth of flavour I would like. Might be a starting point though for people interested in broadening their beer horizons before trying the really strong tasting beers.

Though it is certainly not bland, it is hardly what I was expecting from a dark ale and in that way in reminds me of Rickard's Dark, another mild (though slightly paler) dark ale.

Grans Brewery from Norway

Grans BARE (Norway) 4.7%

Initially the taste was overwhelmingly sour and the beer smelled a little like toasted bread. Many of Grans's beers tend to be sour, in fact the only one that seems to be well balanced is the Lettøl and their stronger Yule Beer . It is amber yet very clear in a glass. It is mildly malty and, this may be all psychological due to the clear glass bottle (rare in Norwegian beers), the minimalist label, and the crystal clear beer itself, but it tastes clear somehow: only a few flavours are pronounced and the rest stays in the background. It's an interesting beer to try if only because the brewer seemed to have accomplished what they were aiming for: a mild beer with only a few clearly distinguishable flavours.

Grans Fri (Norway) 0.0%

Skunky and slightly bitter, a lot like the Grans Lettol but sweeter and slightly wooden, all in all not a bad alcohol free beer.

Grans Premium (Norway) 4.7%

Almost no taste at all to this beer. Lightly carbonated, if you really work at it you can suss up a mild lager flavour. Quite bland for a 4.7% ABV beer but at least it is poundable - you can drink lots of them but this is an otherwise unremarkable beer.