More contrast

Another brewery that likes to give us a bit of stylistic diversity with their specials and one-offs is Kinnegar. I've had to skip number 16 in the Brewers at Play series as it was an exclusive for top Belfast boozer The Sunflower, but today I've got the flankers, 15 and 17.

Brewers At Play 15 is a Vanilla Coffee Milk Stout. Kinnegar has good form in this sub-genre with its excellent Cup & Saucer several years ago. This one is lighter at 4.8% ABV and should be sweeter, from the added non-coffee ingredient. Still a dry coffee roast dominates the aroma, though there's a mineral tang as well -- the opposite of richness -- which suggests it might be thinner than anticipated. And so it transpires. This isn't silky and sumptuous, it is light and brisk: not unpleasantly watery but sailing dangerously close to it. The flavour comes across as caramel wafer biscuit and a touch of bourbon whiskey, with all the vanilla but none of the booze. Though there's a long lasting mocha aftertaste, the finish is quicker than expected. "Deep [and] rich" says the label; it's not. But it is fun and tasty, restrained in both alcohol and sugar. Sometimes that's enough.

The whole terminology issue must be a nightmare for breweries trying to be creative. Kinnegar seems content that everyone knows what Radler is, but weren't so confident about the weissbier equivalent being known as Russ. Therefore Brewers at Play 17 carries the slightly clumsy designation of Hefeweizen Radler: a very American sort of German notation, via north Donegal. A read of the label tells me this isn't even a Russ or a Radler, merely a low gravity weiss with added lemon zest. I fully expect the Bavarian navy to come sailing down the Swilly in search of vengeance. It does, in fairness, smell like Radler: sweet and lemony; pure summer spritz. It's as light-bodied as one would expect from any 3% ABV beer but avoids seeming thin, thanks to the wheat, I guess. And because it's not dosed up with sugar water it's not cloyingly sweet either. The fundamentals of good weissbier are in here -- bubblegum, clove candy and grassy noble hops -- and the lemon adds a mere seasoning, not a dominant taste. It's unorthodox but it works really well: light and refreshing without being thin or un-beer-like. I'm generally sceptical when English-speaking breweries muck about with established continental styles, but this idea has plenty going for it.

I didn't think there would be a connecting theme with such contrasting styles, but I guess it's "making intrinsically sweet beers not-horrible". Other breweries have much to learn from Kinnegar on the subject. Gather round.