This is the second of the Great British Ales pack. Unlike the Fraoch, I have had this many times. Shepherd Neame is one of my favourite brewers and Spitfire is an excellent beer. It is so good, i could never do it justice. It is malty, hoppy, spicy and leaves a wonderful bitter aftertaste that leaves your pallette wondering where the hell the next mouthful is?
The beer is named after the excellent Spitfire plane from world war two. The bottle has a clever slogan at the bottom that says "The bottle of Britain" which is pretty amusing considering the orgin of the name.
Isn't subjectivity weird? I find Spitfire exceedingly dull.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's in poor taste to name a beer after a machine primarily designed to kill people.
Maybe after having a few more good quality beers i will feel the same. For now though i find it very tasty indeed.
ReplyDeleteIs that a brown bottle? I thought Shepherd Neame used only clear ones.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, all the others were clear. I still have plenty of them for when i start bottling. This one however seems to be brown and its a 330ml as opposed to 500ml bottle which is the norm.
ReplyDeleteI like spitfire a lot but it is not a patch on Bishops Finger so i have a few more bishops finger bottles than spitfire waiting to fill up with some Cider when its done. Although I have 3 5L kegs to put into my cooler/tap so I will use them fist and bottle whatever is left from that.
Hopefuly you guys will get back her some day and for a longer period and i can supply you with some good beer by then.. when im a master brewer and all :D
Bishop's Finger is a magnificent beer, and still my favourite. If it wasn't for the wealth of other Kentish beers that really required trying over Christmas I would have pickled myself quite happily on that.
ReplyDeleteWould be great to come back to Ireland, if we weren't moving to the States I would be on boss's case about moving there instead.
Here's an idea - make your own version of Wrasslers XXXX and then enjoy serving yourself a fine stout every night after work!
Wrasslers XXXX huh? Sounds like a plan. I will need to try the real thing first. Im sure we can swing a visit when you move to the US. Is it still NC you are planning on? If so, Hilary has family that i believe have a second home there so we can try co-ordinate a visit some time. In the mean time we can hang out in March in Germany and maybe Prague as well.
ReplyDeleteThings are up in the air as far as location goes, but it will be one of the following: SC, NC, VA or GA. A lot depends on where we can get work, in particular the wife as she wants to stay in Montessori.
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