Tetley Ležák

Beer shopping in Armagh, never a wonderland of quality and choice, took a turn for the worse on my most recent attempt. The most interesting things I could find were today's pair of warmed-up Tetley beers. The brand has been owned by Carlsberg for decades but as far as I know these revived beers have been brewed at its spiritual successor, the Leeds Brewery.

Tetley's Golden Ale first, a 4%-er. It smelled a bit skunky, which wasn't a good start. The flavour was very decent, however: a mostly sweet and slightly spicy mix of golden syrup and Earl Grey tea, providing sugar, tannin and bergamot. It's fizzy, but not thin with it. Consumed ice cold it's very refreshing, and just complex enough to be worthwhile. Not a million miles from a quality Czech lager, actually. Yes it tastes very similar to plenty of other English golden ales, but then that's not something I drink very often. I was on board for the sequel.

That would be No. 3 Pale Ale. Pale ale trumps golden, right? Wrong. While this is similarly coloured, and only a little bit stronger, it's horribly dry, to the point of acrid. It's crackers: spun wheat or rye crackers, topped with sesame seeds and possibly sawdust. There's an even harsher finish, all musty and dusty, and even a little sour. Three sentences later I have to remind myself that they've called this a pale ale. There's no hop character, and no malt kindness either. A cruel beer, in short, and I doubt any dispense variant would save it.

Georgian Yorkshire, then, is a land of contrasts. Top notch golden ales and execrable pale ones. Tread carefully.