Friday, October 12, 2007

Adnams Broadside a great beer from the coast

Adnams are a family brewer situated in the seaside fishing town of Southwold, Suffolk. The brewery has developed from trading mainly to its tied estate in Suffolk to being widely distributed through the free trade across England. Adnams Bitter and Broadside are now national brands with bottled Broadside making its way to the antipodes several times a year.

Pictures of Southwold always look gloriously dark and gloomy everything a fishing village should be. I tend to have an unusual attitude to weather although one which is pretty healthy when living in a temperate long thin island stuff between the arid sub continent of Australia and the southern ocean. I enjoy weather in almost all its forms (very hot weather and humidity excluded) with a slight bias to winter, while others moan on frosty mornings I take relish. Anyway I digress with a near direct line to the North Sea Southwold looks like a place I could get into with the help of a fireside pint in a pub.

While I have never tasted the cask version of Broadside which often gets a bad rap, the bottled version is right up my ally. Despite sharing the brand the two are very different beers with the cask version sitting at 4.7%abv in sharp contrast to the 6.3%abv of the bottled version. Strong with a bold complex range of flavours bottled Broadside manages to arrive on our shores tasting fresh.

Adnams Broadside 6.3%abv

Pours a deep red copper with a medium white head. Aroma features warm earthy almonds, a tangy English hop note, and a sweet fruit ester that is hard to put a finger on, I cant argue with the official line that its conserved fruit. On the palate there is sweet malt, nuts, almonds again , a touch of warming alcohol fruity hop flavour and finally a firm bitter finish. Wow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i used to drink broadside at a dismal smoky pub called the Tabard in Chiswick in London. it was one of my regular post-karate session drinks and when it was good, it was great. when it wasn't so good - and i am not sure the turnover of the broadside was that big - it could be a bit ordinary. i remember it as a medium malty beer, with bit of a sweetish aroma, and pretty gentle hopping, but very very drinkable at 4.7% - a good thing it wasn't as strong as the bottled version really!
Ed

Anonymous said...

The broadside at Ye Olde Mitre (1 Ely Place) is always in good nick. Cracking pub if you ever get back to the motherland!

Anonymous said...

Always loved the bottled version but haven't bothered with the cask version for a while until I read this article.

Expecting to be disappointed, I tried it in the first pub I came across that was ok and I was disappointed. Then I went to the Harp near covent garden and it was in fine form and for the first time I could see that it was the same beer. However, I'd have to say that the bottled version pips it in its field as it rises above so many of its contempories and as nice as the cask was I still had something different for my next pint! would say more bt am tired!!