Thornbridge Kipling

This is the fourth bottle to get the new Thornbridge 'treatment', that is the fourth to be prepared using their new bottling procedure and branding, and as no-one seems to have reviewed it yet as far as i know, I'm going to have a bash.

I was probably more excited by the news of the new bottled Kipling than any of the previous newly bottled Thornbridge beers, as its been a favourite of mine since I first tasted it. If you don't know, Thornbridge Kipling is a pale ale (they label it with the appealing title.. "South Pacific Pale Ale") which uses the New Zealand hop Nelson Sauvin . This is a hop that has created a big stir in the UK brewing scene in recent years, and one which I really latched on to.

The first time I tasted a beer which used this hop (Marble's Pint) I was amazed. This hop transforms beer into another realm altogether. The hop imparts an incredible tropical fruit flavour to beer, a fruit juice character which is really surprising and very moreish. Nelson Sauvin judging on the beers I've had seems to work especially well when used as a late and dry hop, ie, used at the last minute (as you might do with Coriander in a curry) to let the flavours and particularly the aromas really sing.

Anyway on to the tasting...

Cap Off, and straight away I get the tropical aromas, Passionfruit and Pineapple, candied sweets. The beer pours a beautiful pale golden colour as you might expect. There's a nice head, but not too much (this is a fairly new bottle so carbonation will probably increase with bottle age).



Taste, you drink beers like this as much with your nose as your mouth, you get the aroma a split second before the beer hits your mouth and the same aromas explode on your tongue, bringing through more assertive bitter fruits now, grapefruit, and kiwi maybe.. Then the malt comes, sweet caramel, enough to let the hops do their thing but no more.

Aftertaste, the malt dissolves into superb biting hop bitterness, which in turn is washed away by the carbonation which is perfect. Not biting but enough to cleanse the pallet and make you want to taste again.

This really is exceptional beer, Jaipur has taken more plaudits generally and deservedly so (although Kipling has taken its fair share of Gold Medals including most recently at the Nottingham beer festival), but Kipling has always been my favourite of the Thornbidge beers, most likely born out of my love of Nelson Sauvin. I keep toying with the idea that I'm tired of its overtly fruity 'in your face charachter' it is brash in some ways, maybe a bit obvious? but its so moreish and flavourseome and it continues to appear in all my favourite beers... Pint, Dobber, Kipling... If you haven't familiarised yourself with Kipling or Nelson Sauvin, I envy you... check it out... ale will never be the same!

You can buy Thornbridge Kipling here and the rest of Thornbridge's fantastic beers here...