Lemon Dream Beer (Co-Op @SalopianBrewery) By @SpectreUK

There is an explosion of lemons on the label of this 4.5% volume Lemon Dream ale. I'm expecting it to be pretty bitter with some serious citrus zest going on throughout the flavour. The Shrewsbury based Salesian Brewery can't go around with lemon bombs on the labels of their beer and not deliver now, can they?

Cinabar is always on the lookout for flavoured beers, such as the banana beer and the passionfruit beer disasters in the past. It looks like she has stumbled across this ale by chance. On reading the back of the label this Lemon Dream was brewed with fresh whole lemons, as well as plenty of American hops. I don't think I've ever had an actual lemon flavoured beer before. It makes me regret not to have a tuna sandwich to hand. I have a fairly spicy Chinese Takeaway to eat for dinner instead, so that may go well with such a citrus packed ale anyway.

On opening this Lemon Dream and pouring it into my new glass beer tankard, I first noticed its bright golden colour. I mean I've had plenty of golden beers before, but this one was practically glowing in the dark golden. There was indeed a lemon and biting citrus aroma to the ale, mixed well with the sweet malts On taste the lemons and citrus hops seem to mix almost too well with the malts in this beer. I was expecting a bitter blast, but in fact this beer has more subtle bitterness which complements the sweet malts, drawing out their flavours just up until the aftertaste where there's an unusual almost smoky quality to the flavour. This smokiness at the back of each swig made me want to drink more, partly because I didn't believe my tastebuds, and partly because it felt like I was drinking the late afternoon sunlight.