Last week I blogged about Vintage Fine Ale, the first of two limited edition Greene King beers that have been made with the near extinct Chevallier malt from their secret (or maybe not) seed bank. Chevallier malted barley hasn't been used much in the last century and once the three fields of this rare malt have been all used up, it could be quite sometime before anyone tastes Chevallier in a beer again. This Suffolk Pale Ale is the second beer. Saaz hops and Strisselsplat hops were added in the brewing to create a mixture of floral, citrus, herbal and spicy bitterness to this pale ale.
On opening the 568ml bottle there was a spicy herbal hoppish smell mixed with the sweet malt. On taste this 5% volume ale had the now familiar sweet taste of the Chevallier malt to start with which again complemented the bitter flavours of the hops. There is spicy warmth here from the initial flavours mixed with the herbal and the floral hops and with a touch of citrus into the sweet malt aftertaste. This is a complex pale ale, full of all the flavours of hops and the luxurious sweetness of Chevallier. I can see why Greene King wanted to roll back the years to produce both these beers. It would be grand if they could create more fields of this Chevallier malted barley, as I'm sure these would become very popular beers without being limited editions.
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