20 March 2021

Zaffir Pale Ale (Co-Op @stonehousebeer) By @SpectreUK

Zaffir Pale Ale Stonehousebeer


I have a curry tonight. I fancy a good citrus pale ale to wash it down with. This bottle of Zaffir doesn't have a heck of a lot of information on it. It states it's a pale ale, and it has hints of tropical fruit. It was brewed by the Stonehouse Brewery, in Oswestry, and is 4% in volume.

Oswestry, in Shropshire, was where I had my most recent knee operation. That is what I've been rehabilitating from for the last two years, and also a previous operation on my right shoulder after a care accident. I'm keeping my weight down through dieting and I'm getting stronger through plenty of exercise in my kitchen gym. This week I received some slightly heavier weights from a nice lady from Amazon. I even received a lovely smile when she was driving away... remember those? We used to do them all the time before the masks became essential at close quarters. Anyway I used my new weights with all of my old weights today. It was a tougher workout, and I'm pretty tired, but I'll slowly get used to it. Besides a hot bath in a while will help soak away some of the aches and pains.

This curry is our first takeaway since the original lockdown last March. There was so much guidance about replacing and reheating anything that was delivered, we figured we'd just give it a miss. Meals For All very kindly sent us a curry each via a courier to review, which is quite a honour. We left the meals overnight in the fridge. I have a Lamb Rogan Josh. I'm not sure a pale ale will go well with lamb, but the tropical hops should go well with the curry spices.

So onto Zaffir. On opening the bottle there was a refreshing blast of tropical citrus hops. There was a fulsome sweetness from the malts behind the hoppy aroma. On taste this Zaffir has an initial crisp and biting tropical bitterness, which is quickly followed by the sweetness from the pale and possibly crystal malts. This is a lovely biting and refreshing pale ale. I'd certainly have Zaffir again. It went rather well with my lovely spicy curry too. Lamb and all...

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