I realise that the competition wasn’t really very stiff this year, but this is my favourite of 2012’s Great British Beer Hunt selection.
I like the deep amber colour and I like the peach juice and pine forest aroma.
I like the malts that have a good treacle base, some decent crumbly biscuit and sweet honey swishing around.
I like the hops that provide a nice, if a little soft, citrus bitterness, heather and damp fern greenery, leaf litter crunch and autumnal dryness.
But what I really like is the addition of spruce that brings a depth of spicy sweet toffee comes over almost like marzipan or Midget Gems, and reminds me of something that I can’t quite put my finger on.
What I would ask is this.
Is Prodigal Sun a watered down version of Alba for the masses?
That’s not a slight, simply a question.
I love Alba, Williams Bros’ spruce ale, and I like this very much too.