Mad limey

The beer blogging world's eye on London, Stonch, reported recently that Fuller's had been touting the notion of serving their organic Honey Dew ale over ice and with a slice of lime. He wasn't in favour of the idea. Despite my many past reservations on organic beer and honey beer, I felt that an experiment was in order. So I'm taking advantage of a brief cease in the hostilities of the June weather to write a post from here in the lavish grounds of Beer Nut Towers where I am joined by a bottle of Honey Dew and two glasses: one with ice and lime, and one not. The aim is to determine whether Fuller's are onto something with this, or whether they're just running out of marketing ideas.

Against my better judgement I'll try the ice-and-slice one first... It could be that I overdid the ice, but I'm not getting very much by way of flavour at all -- just wateryness and fizz. There's a vaguely beery hint somewhere in the background, but no honey and no notes to even indicate what style of beer this is. Refreshing, yes. In the way a glass of iced mineral water is refreshing.

The raw product, then... OK, so there wasn't much flavour to start with. This has to be one of the blandest ales I've ever encountered. Sharply fizzy and very much dry rather than sweet. At the end there's a sort of beeswax stickiness, but nothing like the honey-in-your-face of St. Peter's Honey Ale, for example. It's getting better and sweeter as it warms, but too little too late.

Perhaps the point of the lime was to impart some kind of flavour. We'll never know.
I doubt if I'll be buying any more Honey Dew and I very much doubt that I'll be flinging fruit and frozen water into any other beers (unless instructed to by the marketing department of a large brewery, of course, and only then in the interests of scientific reportage).

This is The Beer Nut, adulterating my beer as per the brewers' instructions, so you don't have to.