Thwaites - Wainright

Named for the famous Lakeland writer Alfred Wainright, Wainright (the golden ale) seems to suffer from some sort of split personality and is definitely an example of why judging a book by it's cover is a past time for the dim witted and arrogant. I had this beer a long time ago, I bought it because I was trying to work my way through every beer that Waitrose sold (which I have now succeeded in completing,) but I wasn't very optimistic about the contents of the, bland looking, brown, white and gold clad bottle that has a pencil sketch of a man, sitting against a rock, in a field, smoking a pipe, which, on the visual excitement scale, ranks up there with being forced to watch a reel of an agoraphobics holiday snaps. On top of that the text describing the beer seems to be in Comic Sans, how was I supposed to take this beer seriously at all?!

Well, far from being a watery session ale drunk exclusively by hermits and people whose core source of income comes from picking bits of cheese and pie crust from their beards and reconstituting it as folk art, Wainright is both fun and playful! It bubbles happily when you pour it before settling down like an excitable cocker spaniel after a lengthy walk, and it has such a satisfying, dark, golden hue that could fool you into thinking you were drinking a lager. It's a little frisky on the nose but not overwhelming and the taste is a little cakey with a punch of grapefruit. The smoothness and the feel, on top of the colour, make this a beer to be enjoyed all year round, whether as an alternative for a fine lager in summer or as a warming and refreshing pint after a tough day grafting in snowy winter.

I'm sorry I ever doubted Wainright, but I stand by what I said, this could be called something obscure and modern like "That Feeling You Get When You Fart In Someone Else's House" or "Inappropriate Groping" and it wouldn't be out of place. It is only that this has been done traditionally... And that's weird.

Food Suggestion: A nice nutty cheese like a Mountain Comte or a hard sheep cheese if you can get your mits on any.

Drink this if you like: Hobgoblin is fairly similar in elements of their respective tastes though if you like fine lagers like Brooklyn or St Mungo then you'd probably find this a nice transition to ale.