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On Sunday in the Star we were treated to two versions of 'Brewers Gold' on the bar at the same time.

The usual Pictish beer was there, at 3.8% but alongside it was Mallinsons,similarly named but 3.7%. It seemed a good opportunity to do some taste testing, (and drink some good beer in the interests of science too!)

Brewers Gold is a hop that imparts fruitiness and spiciness to beer but is not too bitter, coming in at the lower end of the bitterness scale at between 8-10 AAU. It is widely available and a fairly common ingredient in many brewers beers. It is grown in England and Germany and I believe there is even a New Zealand version now.

Anyway, what does it taste like. After tasting both beers side by side it was difficult to tell them apart, both tasted very similar and both had the flavours that one would have expected form the hop. Pictish was marginally sweeter with maybe a sharper aftertaste, whereas the Mallinsons's had some background dryness and I found a slightly more malty body.

Nevertheless, both were great examples of what local brewers can produce in a low gravity beer with a single hop. Both are worth drinking if you get the chance.


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