Thursday 31 October 2013

Too much eye of newt?

Pendle Witches Brew, from Moorhouse’s in Burnley, was one of the flagship beers of the early microbrewery revolution. Weighing in at a powerful 5.1% ABV, it was a dangerously drinkable strong pale ale of a type not seen before in Britain. Perhaps the beer closest in general style was Hall & Woodhouse Tanglefoot.

It’s not an especially hoppy beer in the modern IPA style, instead being relatively light-bodied with a balance of malt and hop, a slight honey note and a noticeable alcohol kick. It doesn’t tend to be stocked in the supermarkets I regularly visit but I often like to pick up a bottle when I do see it. So I was pleased to see in appearing at a very reasonable £1.50 a bottle as part of Morrison’s recent Halloween promotion.

However, the first bottle I had threw a distinct haze and didn’t taste quite right either. Thinking it might just be an unusual susceptibility to fridge chill, I just kept the second in a cool cupboard, but that was hazy too. Matthew Lawrenson of Seeing the Lizards fame has reported similar problems on Twitter.

So I sent a complaint off to Moorhouse’s and, to their credit, they sent me a tray of eight bottles. These had a later best before date and were just as good as I would have expected them to be. So, a beer well worth a try if you see it, but avoid bottles with a Best Before of July 2014.

5 comments:

  1. B&M have a range of Moorhouse Beers on at £1.49 a bottle. I went in and stocked up on black cat the other day.

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  2. I've said this before, but it always annoys me that the Stockport branch of B&M doesn't have an alcohol licence due to an objection from Tesco.

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  3. Hmm. Should have complained myself, but couldn't really be bothered over one bottle.

    Did Moorhouse's say what had gone wrong with the July 14 batch?

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  4. I did actually have three bottles with the same fault, so as it is a beer I normally like I thought it would be worth bringing it to their attention.

    I know some might think I was just angling for free beer, but does that mean they don't believe you should ever complain about anything?

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  5. before I comment, I am aware that this can happen to any beers. Recently the majority of off beers that I have had (3 out of the last 6) in the last 4 months) have been from Moorhouse's. When it's on form the beer is still very nice and I have been known to drink it fairly often. Due to the frequency of their off beers recently I have questioned whether they have had a problem.

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