Name: Batemans Summer Swallow
ABV: 4.2%
Bottled/ Draft: Bottled, not conditioned
Price: £1.29 from Aldi
Colour: Classic amber beer
Head: Big bubbles, *very* short lived
Mouthfeel: Once the fizziness has bubbled off, pleasant.
Taste: Surprisingly deep maltiness for the colour; positively sweet tasting. Light, well balanced hops.
Comment: “One Swallow does make a summer” says the bottle, clearly positioning itself as a summer ale; it’s a light, easy drinking ale with a nice sweet kick to it.
The big, rather enthusiastic bubbles very rapidly faded, leaving the beer with an almost draft-like flatness – no bad thing but it did leave the beer looking more like a soft drink when initially poured into the glass. That aside, however, there’s little to fault this very pleasant, refreshing summer ale. Given the excellent price, it’s a hard beer to resist.
love Bateman's… they brew locally to me in Lincolnshire and often do seasonal variants… their Rosey Nosey Christmas Beer is very good. x
I do have a soft spot for them, and Aldi often seem to have a variety of their beers for sale, at temptingly good prices 🙂
I got this completely wrong, thought it was going to be brewed at Scotney in Kent (National Trust) as Bateman's (also National Trust, ex home of Rudyard Kipling) is nearby … that would've been neat (and both are my neck of the woods)I'm now mourning the passing of summer already!
It looks like your part of the world, like London, is seeing a real explosion of small new breweries starting up – so although this one isn't a local beer, you've got lots to choose from!