English Heart: Elmtree Revisited.

A couple of months back, I reviewed two brews from the wonderful folk over at Elmtree. Well guess what? No seriously, guess! Well this might take a while so I'll just tell you. I'm back in North Norfolk and have had the pleasure of sampling another of Elmtree's fabulous efforts. 

While on a drive back from purchasing wine for the week (100 million cases!), I thought to myself, 'Hang on, I'm going to need some beer!'. Luckily for me, The Real Ale Shop was on the way back from our oenological jaunt. What a thrill it was to see one of my new favourite producers sat on the shelf of this tiny little shop seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I simply had to have it, so I did!

Along with a few other choice brews from various Norfolk based breweries (which I shall be telling you about in due course) I picked Elmtree's seasonal brew, Norfolk's 80 shilling ale. Brewed between the month's of October and April, this dark coloured malty beauty is a hark back to export ales from old Scottish breweries.

Straight out of the bottle, it resembles a glass of coke (I offered it to someone to try, they told me they knew what coke tasted like. How wrong they were) with it's deep, rich brown colour. It has gorgeous malt aromas and a slight chocolatey note. On the palate, the malt hits with immediate effect, with mouth watering bitterness cutting cleanly through to leave a very carefully hopped finish.

Since my discovery of this brewery back in April, I have always held Elmtree in very high esteem. Now, that esteem has just been knocked up another notch.

Norfolks 80 shilling ale is available from The Real Ale Shop for £2.85 a bottle.