I CAN DRINK A RAINBOW - A LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF BEER

The appearance of beer is all important. This post looks at beer colour. Most range from pale through amber to dark.  However In recent times Ive come across other colours as well.

One St Patrick's Day a couple of years ago  I was in a pub called The County in Gosforth, Newcastle.  I spied on handpull a beer from Stonehenge Brewery called Luck of the Irish. Always on the look out for something new , I ordered a half. Imagine my surprise when it came out green, with no advance warning from the barmaid. I recall that there was nothing exceptional about this one. Just a standard bitter,  only a different colour.

Time now to report on something with a bit of  a kick to it. So my next choice is from a pub crawl we had around Edinburgh last summer. In a pub called the Guildford Arms I found this one . ( see photos)

It was a Scottish beer called Windswept Maroon - an unfined  blackcurrant wheat beer. The colour was unusual, as was the taste.  I remember the first sip forced my cheeks to suck in till they met in the middle- that would be my face cheeks by the way ! It was 5.2% and I managed to get through it unscathed.

I came across another green beer at the Great British Beer Festival last year. It was called Pot Belly Venom. In the festival program every beer had tasting notes, except this one. All it said was it was green. Great marketing but nothing special about it, like the first one.

 

Ive yet to try a blue beer and  I'm not sure I want to. Ive seen pictures on Tinternet of some sold in  Japan.  Looks like mouthwash.

 
As I'm typing this I've opened a bottle of truly black beer ; Old Engine Oil from Harviestoun. Impossible to see through, just how I like it

This is a 6% porter which I first came across at a local beer festival 5 years ago. For those that are into food/ drink pairings, I had a pint with fish and chips. Probably not what the experts would suggest. I had had a few so the tastes of each probably cancelled each other out.


A previous post looked at the colour of beer bottles. 

Click here if you've not read it :-