The Buxton Archive

I've had these Buxton beers in my fridge a stupidly long time, since a distant tasting event at Redmond's and the BrewDog Beer Geek Awards of blessed memory before that. Let's get 'em quaffed.

We'll begin with a light 3.2% ABV table beer called In The Zawn. It had sat long enough to pour clear, at least at first -- a few dregs sneaking in late and casting a haze in the limpid yellow liquid. There's a kind of soda effervescence and a zesty lemon buzz which probably used to be brighter and busier when the beer was fresher. What's left behind is lightly bitter and rather plain. There's a gentle saison earthiness too. I think I'd prefer something a little drier and less dessertish than this, but it's fine, with plenty going on considering the strength.

Grinlow is a session IPA , though a hefty one at 4.6% ABV. The aroma was still bright and zesty despite extensive ageing: a fresh waft of lemon curd. The flavour is very sweet, the citrus turning tropical, with a big hit of mango, pineapple and lime. For a superannuated session IPA, five months past the best-before, there's very little bitterness. I'd have expected the hop front notes to have faded leaving just harsher remains but no: this is still young and sunny. I enjoyed it a lot and would like to believe it's indestructible and timeless, but it could be I just missed out on drinking a much better beer some time last year. Either way, a big thumbs up for Grinlow.

Last up is Red Wolf, the Buxton take on Flanders red. My bottle is just under half way through its five-year recommended lifespan. Seems it's been spending that time building up lots of carbon dioxide because I got a vast amount of foam on opening and pouring it, stiff enough to form a beehive hairdo on top of the blood-red body. It smells quite jammy, the tartness of the aroma no more than you'd get from a jar of blackberry conserve. It is more sour on tasting though, with a kick of concentrated black cherry. 6% ABV is strong for the style, and I think it tastes even stronger, the cherry turning to sticky cherry liqueur. There's a coating of chocolate too, for the full Ferrero Mon Chéri effect. A small twang of autolysis sits behind that, adding a brief note of mushroomy umami, but the combination of acidity and fizz scrubs all of this off the palate before things get weird or difficult. I think I prefer the lighter and cleaner iterations of this kind of thing, though I have time for this heavy one. It doesn't go overboard.

I'm sure I've complained here before that we don't see much from Buxton in Dublin. It was good to check in with them, belatedly.