Merlin's Ale

Merlin's Ale
Broughton Ales

0,5l
4,2%



I can't even remember when or where I got this brew. I also haven't heard of the brewery.

We are informed about different stats of it like: 1042° OG 30 EBU 18 EBC.

Apparently OG stands for the Original Gravity while EBU is the European Bitterness Unit and EBC apparently refers to the color in the scale of the European Brewery Convention.

I guess I learn something new every day... and this was a nice addition to the general Information given.

The hops used are Bramling Cross, East Kent Goldings, Citra & Perle while they are using their own Broughton’s Unique Yeast.

I chose this brew for today when the Scandinavian countries celebrate Midsummer -  the summer solstice - though it already happened on the 21st but hey... It is one of the cases when I fell for a beer because of the label and the name... so hey.. good marketing I guess?

The label holds a nice story and depicts Merlin the old sorcerer supreme himself.

An added sticker links to http://beerenthusiast.org/ so maybe my fellow Germans imported it through Scandinavia.

The bottle also holds nice stylized hops on the glass.... talking about glass.. the standard tasting glass it shall be for this beauty.

It bubbled nicely when I opened the bottle and pours with little bubbles which dissipate fast... well it is an English Style Ale so what did I expect. The color is reddish .. not as red as a red ale but definitely redder than a lager. (I know I'm not helping here...)

Ratebeer seems not happy about it with rather low scores.

How very fitting that his beer gave me the God Save The Queen Sticker on untappd on the day of the Brexit...

The aroma is honey-sweet with decent tart tones all in all a very mild aroma with very faint nut and hop aspects.

Carbonation is perfect, mouth feel very nice. The taste starts out fruity sweet and then develops more and more toward the bitter scale till it reaches an almost chocolate stout like after taste of dark chocolate and hops once air reaches the mouth. It is a decent ale I'd say and again I'm not sure why Ratebeer and I disagree ever so often. I do like the bitterness of it and the hops are very well developed, alas it could benefit from some more fruitiness in the beginning. 

Prost!

DMW