Saturday, March 21, 2009

March 15, 2009: Caledonian Golden Promise




Tonight's beer is a Scottish ale called Caledonian Golden Promise. Who were the Caledonians you ask? Good thing I happen to be an expert on ancient Scottish history. The term "Caledonian" comes from the Roman name for the unruly tribes from the area that is today modern Scotland. When the Romans first tried go tame these wild men of the north, they were met with fierce resistance and built Hadrian's Wall to keep the Caledonians out of England. The independent spirit of their Caledonian ancestors still shines proudly in modern Scotland. Although Northen Ireland and Wales also have their own sense of cultural individuality, they pale in comparison to the Scottish who absolutely loath the fact that they share the island with the Brits. Despite the divide between the Brits and the Scots, there are a few things these two nations have in common, one of them being ale. Caledonia Golden Promise is a British style pale ale, with a slight golden orange tint to it. Caledonian Golden Promise claims that it is the world's first organic beer, which sounds ridiculous to me since technically all beer was made organically until it began to be produced in mass quantities in the 17th century. I'm sure they mean that it's the first modern organic beer, but we'll forgive them for that. With a sweet honey flavor on top of malty hops and a bread-like after taste, defintely has a nice earthy feel to it. The only real problem that I had with this beer was that it lacked the bitter edge that you would traditionally expect from an ale. It was pretty close to Great Scott Organic Ale which I tried last month in terms of taste, but it seemed far superior in quality. All in all, Caledonian Golden Promise is a decent ale, and a good choice if you're looking to introduce more organic products into your diet.

Cheers,
Ian

http://www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/ales_golden.html

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