Huddersfield does Berlin

For my trip north at Christmas I took along a couple of Magic Rock cans to drink on the train. I've not had much from this once-revered brewery in a while. Both of these are in the fruited Berliner weisse style.

They're a little on the strong side, the lighter of the pair, Electric Currant, being all of 4.6% ABV. It's flavoured with blackcurrant and in fairness it does look like Ribena: a crystalline purple-red. The flavour isn't especially blackcurranty, however. In part that's because of the sourness, bringing a sharply tart quality to the whole picture, which is unsubtle but welcome. This is no sticky pretend-sour effort. The texture is nicely soft and the flavour gentler than blackcurrant, suggesting cherry and strawberry to me. It's all rather jolly, if perhaps a little too seriously sour to act as an easy-going refreshment beer: light but still made for sipping.

After that, I had high hopes for Fruitfulness, this one named for its inclusion of elderberry, juniper and blackberry, getting a minor ABV boost to 4.8%. It's an even deeper purple colour and certainly smells of an amalgam of mixed berries. The flavour is disappointingly plain, however, with the grainy dryness of unadorned Berliner weisse being more prominent than the fruit. It could be that these berries just aren't particularly flavoursome as beer ingredients, though there also seems to be a lack of depth, of substance, here. Comparing the ingredients listings I notice that the previous one had oats and this doesn't. That it's mildly tangy rather than full-on sour does make for easier drinking, but it still doesn't stack up well against Electric Currant as regards complexity.

Although I had a strong preference for one over the other, there was nothing wrong with either beer. I think it's safe to say that Magic Rock has still got it, despite the change in ownership.