New Thornbridge Bottles

We've just taken into stock a couple of new Thornbridge bottles which I think deserve shouting about. The first is 'Wild Swan' a beer I've enjoyed on draught many times. Described as a "White Gold Pale Ale" its a 3.5% very light pale ale with citrus notes and refreshing bitterness.

From the label " The essence of summer in a glass! Wild Swan evokes those long summer days with its brilliant white gold colour, aroma and tastes of light bitter lemon, hints of subtle herb spiciness and a long, hoppy refreshing finish."

Its a bold move by Thornbridge to bottle such a low abv pale ale, bottling ales is a tricky business at the best of times, and beers low in strength tend to be subtler in flavour so any off characteristics have no where to hide. That said Thornbridge don't traditionally bottle condition their beers by re-seeding the bottles with yeast, instead they use a centrifuge to lower the yeast count in the beers. This technique preserves body and flavour in the beers which would be stripped out using a conventional filtering method. I'm not sure what Camra's opinion is of this technique and whether it qualifies in there eyes as "Real Ale" but the beers certainly taste great, and are noticeably more flavourful than a beer which has been filtered and pasteurised. This is an effortlessly drinkable pale ale and at 3.5% you could have quite a few before any ill effects were noticed.

The second new bottle we now have available is another controversial one in some peoples eyes. Thornbridge have produced their first (as far as i'm aware) Lager, "Italia". The beer is a collaboration with Maurizio Folli of Birificio Italiano an Italian brewery with a great reputation particularly for producing flavourful lagers. And this isn't any old lager, in true Thornbridge style its all about the flavour and Italia is a really crisp clean Pilsner packed with European 'noble' hops which give the beer a grassy, herby quality. It also seems more subtly carbonated than your average lager giving it a really easy drinkability, this is going to be another fantastic summer time beer.

According to the bottle label "Ingrediants are fine Pilsner malt and Hallertau Northen Brewer, Perle and Spalter Select hops, after a cold fermentation and a long, very cold maturation the beer offers herbs and lemon zest on the nose with a malty note that appears as the beer warms up. In the mouth it is soft with creamy malty notes and moderately intense hops; the finish is herbal and minty with a firm bitterness"

So why is it controversial? because some people seem to have a problem with even the word "lager" when it comes to good beer. Within seconds of posting on our Facebook site last night there were negative comments because I was drinking lager and I'm sure there were lots of people thinking the same and dismissing 'Italia' because its a lager and not an ale. I can sympathise with this view point, I would have perhaps thought the same a few years ago.

Beer is such a polarizing subject, especially in this country. When people first discover real ale they are so taken with the flavour and drinkability compared to lager that they assume that all real ale is good and all lager is bad. In reality there are lots of flavourful lagers about and lots of badly made real ales. I think a lot of traditional real ale drinkers would get a lot out of checking out some well made lagers from time to time, I know I have. Lager doesn't always mean bland, watery fizz it can sometimes mean crisp, full flavoured and refreshing as with Thornbridges new lager "Italia".

You can buy Wild Swan and Italia here. They are also available via our pick and mix service here,

There will be a mixed case featuring Japiur, Kipling, Wild Swan and Italia available on the site shortly.

We are also now able to offer Thornbridges bottles wholesale, if you have a wholesale enquiry please contact sales@myBrewerytap.com