Tasting Notes: Braydon: Gert Ale

Braydon: Gert Ale (England: ESB: 4.8% ABV)

Visual: Light chestnut influenced red with a thin sheen of creamy bubbles.

Nose: Creamy, Light bitterness and peanuts.

Body: Liquorice. Black cherry. Creamy and bitter. Reasonably thick texture. Condensed cream. Peanuts and a sweet treacle touch.

Finish: Potatoes and light bitterness. Dry feel. Black toffee.

Conclusion:  Back to previously unknown breweries as part of the “Order random stuff from the bar” principle.  Generally the first beer you have from a brewery colours your perception of them, what their house style is, and influences how you look on their later ales.  Bit of a pity really, as what I can tell from this beer is that they didn’t move far from the template when they brewed it and didn’t bother giving it much life either. So from this my first impression is that their house style is to be as middle of the line as possible

It’s a solid thick textured beer of treacle and bitterness, that comes in a tad sickly at the finish at times and lays the creaminess on a bit much for the style.

So what I am saying is that it is a bit dull, a bit off, with pretty much only its decent handling of bitterness to make it stand out. Not a terrible one, but not great.

Background: Braydon is a brewery from Chippenham (or “The Democratic Peoples Republic of Chippenham” as it is oft called for no reason I can ascertain). Gert is south west slang (specifically Bristol), known best for its use in the phrase “gert lush” which seems to mean very good. Allegedly gert by itself means very or big.  Listen, don’t blame me, I’m a Northerner, I didn’t make this shit up, we just say shit like “ee by gum” which makes much more sense. Anyway, it’s a beer, I drank it.