A “Fruity Pale Ale” brewed to celebrate the first year of Thwaite’s in-house micro brewery, I was told I should try this by a bunch of CAMRGB members from what’s quickly becoming the organisation’s first true “branch” up in Lancaster.
So I got hold of some.
And they were right.
Crafty Dan is a delicious deep honey copper beer with smells of apples and pears and caramel goodness.
On first sip there’s a good earthy digestive biscuit to the malt, but before it gets too dry it has a big blob of sticky toffee dumped on it and lots of cracked black pepper flicked at it.
The hops are orange rind bitter, elderflower crisp, and as pithy as sucking the pulp from a bramble switch.
Go on, try it, you’ll see what I mean.
There’s some very nice fresh tobacco and pine resin stickiness too, and then a finish that’s full of sweet honey, bitter grass clippings, and soft chamomile tea.
I like Crafty Dan a lot.