Thanks to Bermondsey brewery Spartan for quite unexpectedly sending me a box of their canned IPA Polemarch. Though badged as English-style, it's a full 5.5% ABV: no Greene King clone here. Can-conditioned, it pours quite a clear golden amber with an earthy aroma suggesting English hops from the outset.Sure enough, the classic mix of bitter marmalade and hard wax is the centrepiece of the flavour. This is English IPA at its most worthy and serious. The malt brings some crisp, lightly browned, toast to the picture, but really it's all about those hops. They've gone for the newer varieties Jester and Olicana but quite honestly I couldn't tell them apart from your Fuggles and your Goldings.
This beer is quite diametrically opposed to what's in fashion in beer at the moment, and I doubt it's what many drinkers go to Bermondsey for. The quality and fidelity to the style are undeniable, however.
"Made with British hops"? I'd love to try a beer made with Welsh or Scottish hops, but commercial hop growing on the island of Great Britain has been restricted to England for about 140 years.
ReplyDeleteI would too, Martyn. Something for a fractured nation to hope for.
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