Bowland Brewery Tour-At-Home
Bowland Brewery is a Lancashire brewery founded in 2003; since 2015 it's been based in a magnificent former cotton mill in the heart of Clitheroe, which has become a real destination with a hotel, cinema, large delicatessen and frankly huge beer hall with beer taps as far as the eye can see and quite reasonably claims to be one of the longest bars in the UK.
We first encountered them when we visited the Parker's Arms - they have a couple of their beers on tap - and on our second visit even ended up staying in the hotel there (and managed to squeeze in a visit to the aforementioned beer hall, too!)
Their range is broadly traditional - none of your London Murk here - and not all of it makes it into bottles, but I've managed to grab the six core beers that do, to enjoy back here in rainy Wales.
Hen Harrier is a 4.0% "Spectacular Golden Pale Ale". It certainly looks the part, with a gloriously pale golden colour and a gentle white foam.
The nose is light, with soft peach fruit and a touch of sweet orange blossom lurking in the background.
The lightness continues in the mouth; more gentle fruits and a refreshing sweetness that's balanced nicely with a wonderful, almost creamy mouthfeel. There's enough bitterness from the start to blend with that sweetness, and it lingers once the beer has gone, urging you to another sip.
While there's nothing outstanding about it, this is a very easy drinking beer that I can imagine slipping down, bottle after bottle, on a warm summer evening.
Pheasant Plucker is a 3.7% "Copper Ale That's More Than Pleasant". It's a little paler than I would have expected from a copper ale, but it's a nice enough looking pint in the glass.
The nose is gentle, with hints of that hedgerow fruit character of classic British hops.
In the mouth, it's a classic Best Bitter; gentle malts tempered with a well restrained but astringent hop bitterness, and again all tied together with a delightfully light but creamy mouthfeel from the impressive condition - especially considering the poor beers have been sat in a corner for months waiting for me to taste!
As the tagline says, this is definitely more than pleasant and I can see why it's a CAMRA Gold Medal winner - a great session pint.
Boxer Blonde is a 4.0% "Straw-Coloured Ale That Packs A Gooseberry Punch". It's the palest of the beers so far, although more pale gold than straw to my eye.
The nose is light and floral; fresh, slightly citrussy hops with a little sugary sweetness below.
The taste is a lot more complex than the aroma leads you to expect - sharp green fruit, a lovely smooth light caramel that blends into a surprisingly powerful tannic finish that lingers wonderfully.
I confess when I first smelled it, I was dubious of the "packs a gooseberry punch" line, but once it's in your mouth it certainly delivers!
Buster IPA is a 4.0% "India Pale Ale With A Big Attitude". It's another pale golden ale, perhaps a little more 'gassy' looking than the rest.
The aroma wonderful, full of summer fruits, strawberries and honey.
The fruit is still there in the mouth, but the sweetness is more muted and well balanced by a drying bitterness from the hops. That bitterness doesn't linger though, leaving you reaching for more.
This is an interesting IPA; clearly influenced with new world hops, but somehow it manages to be quite traditional at the same time - it's not the chaotic hop bomb that trendier IPAs can become. Excellent stuff.
Bumble Honey Beer is a 4.0% "Blonde Ale Lightly Hopped With Double Addition Of Honey". It's another golden ale, but with a notably more lingering foam on top.
The aroma is gentle with hedgerow hops, but there's a definite dark honey edge to it as well.
It's a curious beer when it comes to the taste; there's some almost sugary sweetness that's soon swept away by a slightly unruly bitterness. The honey isn't really there on the tongue, but it does have that slight odd, almost musty aftertaste you often get with honey additions.
Honey beers are often tricky things to pull off; they tend to end up much like Bumble does - the nose offers a tantalising promise of honey but it all gets lost and muddy when it comes to the taste. A bit of a miss, this one.
Deer Stalker is a 4.5% "Superbly Rich Stout". Finally, a properly dark beer, a deep reddish hued stout.
The nose is gloriously rich; dark toasted malt and some wonderful dark fruit in there too, with blackcurrants and dried raspberries.
Those notes all carry on in the mouth too; there's a lovely dryness from the deep roasted malts that is nicely balanced by that fruit, and underneath there is even a slightly spiced note bringing a fruit cake feel to the beer.
All in all a very tasty stout.
All in all, this is a tasty core range of beer; yes, on the edge of traditional but that's no bad thing. It's bit heavy on the pale ales, but that seems to be the way these days.
Well worth seeking out if your in the area (and definitely worth paying a visit to their beer hall!)
This post was originally published 10th November, 2024. It was last updated 10th November, 2024.