Shepherd Neame Cracker

Formerly brewed at Shepherd Neame
Style: Bitter
Faversham, England

Serve in English pint

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Cask conditioned @ JDW, Soton. Moderately malty with fruit, burnt notes and a strange citric fruitiness which is almost but not quite out of place. A touch thin - all in all too many strands that do not unite.

Cask Conditioned at a Whetherspoons. Red, dark brown colour with malty head. Served very cold and we were in a hurry so couldn’t let flavours develop. Bitter malty beer with some body, a grainy fruitiness. A bright fresh finish with some late alcohol. Decent brew, badly served.

This may well be a one-off brewed for Wetherspoons, rather than a regular Christmas seasonal, but only time will tell. Here’s a tip. If you’re going to stock a beer that purports to be a winter warmer, don’t serve it icy cold, negating much of the aroma. It truth, even when it warms up a bit, it’s not very Christmassy. The colour is an appealing chestnut brown. It’s clean, fresh and quite malty. However, the malt is very dry and accompanied by a strong hop presence, producing a notably bitter brew, for a Christmas beer. There’s a bit of fruit, but it’s more along the lines of citrus than Christmas pudding. I thought this beer was rather pleasant, despite the misleading moniker. Just a shame I couldn’t detect much of the aroma. Cask (handpump), The Shakespeare’s Head (JDW), Holborn, London.