The Ale Trail: Cottage Beer Project

I stumbled on this Devon-based brewery while searching on the internet for bottle conditioned ales. Admittedly, if I were seeking just any bottle conditioned ales this would not be difficult (although it would be great if there were more) but finding new ales produced in this way has something of a quest about it. In the case of this brewery, the quest turned out to be a hugely productive one.

As a lover of dark beers, I inevitably reached for the Mild Boar mild and the Rambler dark ale, both of which turned out to be good selections, the former a chestnut mild with a nutty texture, the latter deep, sweet and strong (5.9% ABV).

However, it was the third choice that surpassed expectations: The Gatherings, an amber ale, is far more robust than other ambers: as the picture on their website had already suggested, it's closer to brown in colour hinting at the richness of its texture. Taste-wise, it more than surpassed expectations: for a 3.4% ABV ale, it's packed with flavour, delicately spiced with the depth of a winter ale. If you're looking for something that's not too strong but tastes like it is, this is worth trying.

I'll be going back for more, certainly, The Old English Goat bitter also looks a good bet while the Black Pheasant stout would certainly have been a pick first time round had it been in stock. There's also a Black IPA called Panther: in my experience these things can go either way but the selection sampled so far makes me positive about giving it a go. It was the Society of Independent Brewers' south-west champion in December. 

If you're looking for a lighter ale, appropriate for these summer evenings, you might want to try the Bespoke blonde ale, the Doodle Beer EPA or IPAs Red Deer and Hit For Six.