Wednesday 19 January 2011

Day 53, Beer 53 - Purity's "Mad Goose"

Today's Beer


Name – Mad Goose


Classification – Pale Ale

Strength – 4.2% ABV



Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Warm gold. Crystal clarity.

On the nose – Creamy malts and some very complimentary fruit top-notes.

On the tongue – This is genuine 'event' beer. (Read on...)

On the subject – Warwickshire based Purity have 'own brews' as just one aspect of their global beverage operation. On this evidence - you'd think brewing their own beer was the only thing they'd ever done since birth.

On the market – Getting better. Ocado and selected Tesco's now stock this - but the brewery's online shop is more than capable.

On the whole8/10




Full Review


Despite all the 'in yer face' branding – I wasn't instantly blown away by this beer.

No, to be blown away, I had to wait around ten or eleven seconds. At which point – I was comprehensively blown off my feet.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the exquisitely timed 'finish'.

In essence, all the first mouthful of this beer does is plant the TNT and light the fuse. A few subsequent breaths follow this mouthful, during which the drinker – myself in this case – is left blissfully unaware of the buttered popcorn explosion which is about to erupt on his poor unfortunate (or should I say 'blessed and very fortunate') tongue.

In whichever beer it is found, a good 'long' and powerful finish is almost always a complete delight. 

No finish has ever delighted me quite as much as the one caused by Purity's Mad Goose.

It is proper, top draw, scintillating stuff.

I wonder if the 'Mad Goose' in the title is actually the brewery's reference to this particular feature of the beer. It would be interesting to know. It is so very distinctive – I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Of the other aspects of the drink – let us not forget that there really are other aspects worthy of mention – well, it's vividly hopped with some good old citrus top notes which rise even higher than the hops' sharp bitterness, and this is all offset nicely by a carefully crafted blend of malts. All in all, it really is very pleasant indeed.

But, by a mile, the biggest treat of all is that quite spectacular finish. 

When those malts emerge suddenly from that hop infused mist - it's a full-on, Hollywood action movie moment.

It's easily as thrilling as a fairground ride.

And in these days of ruthless theme-park and cinema prices – it's a heck of lot cheaper, too.





No comments: