Craig’s tasting
The German “Reinheitsgebot” or purity law stipulates that only water, barley and hops may be used in the brewing of beer. While this law was repealed over twenty years ago many brewers still brew according to this philosophy.
While the Germans were getting bogged down trying to ensure that brewers were unable to produce bad beer, the British went in the opposite direction. The British decided that no purity law was necessary and that brewers should be allowed to use whatever they like in their beers. The end result is an offering like Newcastle Brown Ale.
A quick review of the ingredients list reveals that each bottle contains: Water, unmalted cereals, malt, sugar, caramel, E150, yeast and isinglass. Before conducting this review I had no idea that Isinglass was in fact obtained from the swimbladders of fish. The reason for using Isinglass is to accelerate the clarification of the beer.
The E150 ingredient is actually a type of caramel that, in its pure for is not palatable but is used to create colour in a range of foods. Hence the name “brown ale”.
Any brewer that can take fish guts, a food that is known better as a number and turn it into something drink worthy is a hero in my book. In fact I have not seen this level of improvisational genius since the days of MacGyver.
Along with the Newcastle Brown Ale brewers, he is perhaps the only man who could turn half a pack of smokes, a paperclip and some rubber bands into a palatable and successful beer.
