25 November 2017

Blood Orange Wheat Beer (Marks and Spencer) By @SpectreUK


I do enjoy the odd flavoured beer. It's true that some are odder than others, and some fruit flavoured beers can be downright unpleasant, such as banana beer and passion fruit beer. I've tasted blood orange beer before and liked it, as well as orange peel beer (which I haven't seen for a good while) and loved it. I remember that they go especially well with fishy dishes. You've probably guessed it from the title, blood orange juice was added in the brewing of this 4.5% volume wheat beer by Adnams Brewery in Suffolk. Although not named on the can 100% European hops were used in the brewing as well as malted barley and malted wheat.

On opening the can there was an orange smell mixed in with the wheat and herbal hops. I expected more of a citrus smell, and figured my nose was a little broken from the steam room at the swimming pool earlier. There was indeed an orange tint to the golden beer as I poured it. On taste there was an unexpected sourness. Unlike all of Adnam's usual perfectly lips-smacking craft ales, the first taste of this beer actually made me worry slightly. Worry enough to check the date on the bottom of the can. I'm not sure the herbal hops mixed well with the blood orange juice. I'd have thought more citrus hops would have been used, either that or the malted wheat in the background just didn't get on with the blood orange or the hops. This beer seemed to me like an argument of flavours that left a fairly unpleasant taste in my mouth.

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