States of mind

It's off to the USA but without leaving Derbyshire today, courtesy of Thornbridge.

Starting on the west coast, Frisco is a California common, a market largely cornered by Anchor Steam but which I guess brewers liking making as a technical exercise. I certainly can't imagine other ones being popular with the drinking public, beyond tickers like me. This looks lovely in the glass, though the clear golden hue immediately put me in mind of bitingly citric IPA, even though I knew that's not the offer. That said, there's a beautiful floral aroma telling me that hops will feature, and it's there in the flavour too: rose petals and lavender with a dusting of lemon sherbet on the end. That's pleasant, in quite a different way to Anchor Steam, but I think this one is a little lacking on the malt front. It tastes much lighter than I'd expect for 5% ABV. It's probably better to think of it as a clean, simple and fizzy American-style pale ale, and I enjoyed it on those terms.

If California common is rare, Kentucky common is rarer still. The only one I've encountered is the much-missed one that Wicklow Wolf created in their early days. While that was dark, The Colonel is amber-coloured and I can't be bothered finding out which is more authentic. This one has a lot more malt character than the above, from the sweet biscuit aroma to the Veda and fruitcake flavour. The hop varieties are old-school American ones, but guessing blind I'd have said they were Germanic: there's a noble green quality to the bitterness here. It took me a while to figure this one out: it's not brash or any way distinctive, but there's a gentle elegance to it, the chewy malt balanced by both that grassy bite and a dry grain-husk side. There's enough tannin for me to suggest that English bitter is its nearest taste-a-like, though it could be mistaken for a Vienna lager also. The ABV is again 5%, but here it's much more apparent, resulting in a classy and satisfying sipping beer.

Given the on-the-nose naming at work, Dancing Horses ought to be a Vienna lager, but it's actually a California-style IPA, brewed in collaboration with Track of Manchester. Californians wouldn't normally brew their IPA at only 5.5% ABV, but that's what they've done. It does at least look like Sculpin, with the classic bright golden body topped by a healthy layer of fine white froth. Grapefruit aroma? Check. It's a delightfully dry number, with the malt serving only to give the hops a base. The hopping isn't harsh, but packs just the right amount of wallop to be enjoyable, mixing sharp citrus with piney resin and crunchy cabbage leaf. The label promises pineapple, melon and passionfruit, but I get none of that: it's pine and grapefruit all the way, and frankly that's perfect. I might like a point or two of extra strength, but otherwise this walks the walk along Venice Beach and over the Golden Gate Bridge (I've never been to California). Collaboration brews have a tendency to be way-out and wacky, whereas this has all the understated quality of a core beer.

That was a bit of fun: two unusual styles and one classic, all done with the standard Thornbridge attention to detail and quality. We're in a very different beer world to the one in which they started in 2005, but they've still definitely got it.