Panning for gold

Sometimes there are wonderful things to be found in the bottom of the Brew Dock €4 bargain bucket. Fishing beside me, Richard came up with a bottle of Adnam's Broadside. My own lucky dip yielded Schlappe-Seppel Kellerbier.

At first I was a little suspicious of an expiring German kellerbier: after all, it's a style that isn't meant to travel far from its time or place of origin. About the distance from the barrel room to the table is ideal.

Once poured, I was surprised by its paleness, a vaguely hazy blonde rather than the brownish murk I, perhaps unfairly, associate with the kellerbier designation. And whatever about the visuals, the taste is clean and clear as a bell, starting on a candyfloss malt base complicated by a mix of lively fresh lemon sherbet and lightly green celery notes. That effervescent sherbet texture makes it wonderfully drinkable, which again, is the whole point of kellerbier.

Impressive stuff, and not at all what I was expecting when I pulled it out.