Flaming good

There was a mixed box of Burning Sky beers under the Christmas tree, from an extremely kind UK-based family member. I've had some superb beers from this Sussex brewery, though they're normally only to be encountered out and about on my travels. It was nice to bring some home for a change.

We begin with Embrace, a pale yellow table beer of 3.2% ABV. They've used an unfamiliar hop for this: Eggers Special, from New Zealand. It's unmistakably Kiwi, but doesn't taste especially different from the other herbal, German-derived varieties. There's the grassy bitterness, a peppery rocket spice, and even some of the mineral diesel I associate with Nelson Sauvin. No tropicals, but there's plenty of citrus: a sharp jolt of lemon juice and a twist of lime peel. By some alchemy, light doesn't mean thin, and there's enough body to carry the hop flavour fully, without it turning harsh. There's not much going on besides the hop, but what's there is plenty. I tend to expect table beers to have some kind of farmy, saisonish quality, and this doesn't. It could pass happily as a micro IPA. I'm not sure if the straw and pepper of a saison would have added much here, however, so I don't miss it. This is a beautifully done, full-flavoured, session hop-bomb. No further notes.

Luppoleto is Burning Sky's take on the achingly hip style of Italian pilsner. It's a light one at 4.6% ABV and pale with it, though hazed up to show its craft credentials. That's topped with a properly Teutonic pillow of fine white froth. The aroma is softly fruity, giving tinned peach and lychee. That's not very Germanic, though the hops are authentic Perle, Spalter and Saphir. There's none of Burning Sky's signature wild fermentation happening here either, so the flavour is properly crisp and very clean. The stonefruit sweetness hits first, but dries out quickly, leaving a spark of flint, a pinch of damp-grass bitterness and a nibble of citrus pith. It's one of those beers where I had to tap out my notes quickly, before I found my glass emptied: light without being thin; accessible yet far from boring. On a cold winter's day it was finished in minutes, I wouldn't have fancied its chances in summer warmth. One could argue that the style should have a modicum more hop impact than this shows but I reckon they've hit the balance between refreshing and flavourful just right, resulting in something which is every bit as classy yet interesting as their artwork.

Next, Le Cœur Damson is billed simply as a "farmhouse beer". On the back of the can we're told it's mixed fermentation and foudre-aged, which sounds altogether more enticing. The damsons it was aged on have turned it a pinkish orange colour, and there's distinct hedgerow fruit note in the aroma, backed by a wilder sharpness. It's predominantly sour to taste, but doesn't go overboard with that. We're not quite at lambic levels of complexity, but this is very much in that zone. A tingly mineral tartness is the centrepiece, set on a soft cereal base. The damsons arrive later in the flavour and help offset the sourness with fresh and fleshy fruit. Those three elements are very well integrated together, giving us a beer that tastes smooth and mature, even as it prods the salivary glands and squeaks the teeth. I would never have guessed it's all of 5.2% ABV as it feels much lighter, almost verging on watery but with just enough body to avoid it. This is exactly the sort of quality offering that I go to Burning Sky for.

The other "farmhouse beer", Waiting Game, is a collaboration with their fellow English wild beer enthusiasts, Balance. It's a collaboration on a microbiological level, with both breweries' house cultures being used for fermentation. A powerful jet of sulphur aroma greeted me on pulling the tab. The beer is an ordinary hazy pale orange colour, the head full and fluffy at first, then fading away to a mere foam comb-over in short order. A proper sniff revealed the sulphur gone, and instead it smells sweet and orangey, like jelly or squash, with a little farmy funk in the background. There's quite a tang in the foretaste. It's not vinegar-sour, but is still puckeringly tart, mixing the wild yeast bite with plenty of citrus-zest bitterness, thanks to the hopping. Saphir is the only variety mentioned, though the punch here tastes very American to me. Unusually for this kind of beer, the wild complexity is in second place, though it does emerge when the hop-n-sour combination fades after a few seconds. What arrives is a colourful spread of tastes. I got coconut, white wine, tinned lychee, damp logs and pink peppercorns. Although it's only 5% ABV, there's plenty here to keep any drinker occupied for an enjoyably long time. Trust Burning Sky and Balance to take a reasonably familiar format and do something amazing with it.

I don't think I've had a dark Burning Sky beer before so was excited to try their porter, called Robust Porter. "Spicy Sussex grown Target hops" are the selling point here, though I didn't find any in the aroma. Instead, there's mocha aplenty, and a sweetly floral note, more rosewater than spices. It's a very dark brown colour, the tobacco-stain head collapsing quickly to a shallow skim of froth. I grumbled recently about historically-influenced porters at 6.5%+ ABV being too heavy for their historical purpose. This one is 5.8% ABV and, while there's a bit of sugary heft, is still light enough to quench an actual thirst. Lovely. The flavour is a sampler of proper porter characteristics: dark chocolate and espresso, the roasted bitterness intense enough to hint at hot bitumen yet never turning harsh. The floral side doesn't materialise in the flavour and instead the hops are green and leafy, with mineral notes of zinc and flint. Maybe some would class that as "spicy", but not me. It is delicious, though. I had been slightly concerned that the brewery might have farmhoused this up a little with some funky yeast, but instead, like the pilsner, it's clean and classical. I guess that existing in the same market as the likes of The Kernel means you have to get this kind of thing exactly right, and they have. Magnificent work.

I loved these, and while I was reasonably sure I would, I'm quite surprised to discover I didn't care for Burning Sky's wares the first few times I tried them. Regardless, any hype about the brewery these days is fully justified, I reckon.