Wold Top - Scarborough IPA

Yet another one I found in the bargain bin at my local "everything you'll ever need" warehouse/store/football pitch full of pushy customers, Scarborough Fair IPA is one I originally mistook for Wold Gold, a beer I had been advised to get by a friend, but upon finding out it was Wold Top I became despondent and decided to leave it to the side for a while. Tonight, however, is the time for the Wold to shine.

It is a fresh smelling, honey coloured pint with a clean, white, head and low carbonation. I was so excited about trying this considering the other two I got in the bargain bin were really surprising. This has the potential to be surprising but falls just short of being interesting and drops unceremoniously into the category of just being strange. The opening flavours of citrus, honey and hops mixed with a smooth body make it a pleasant pint but it's all brought down by an acidic and bitter after taste that just ruins the whole thing for me.

It may well just be this specific bottle that has that after taste and I hate saying that any beer is a bad beer but this dips WELL below the bench mark for the India Pale Ale, it dips well below the bench mark of anything I'd even consider to be beer. It has potential but it doesn't feel finished, it doesn't taste like the kind of thing you'd go up to Yorkshire to have with a nice carvery. That's what's important, for me at least, about any beer that claims to be from Yorkshire, it needs to go well with a roast, it needs to blend well with big hearty meals, it needs to be bigger and bolder. It may well be the kind of thing they make for us Southern Faeries but THIS Southern Fairy expects better.

Food Suggestion: Something with big flavours to COMPLETELY overpower this beer. Try and keep it away from any food... Try and keep it away from you, there are so many better beers out there.

Drink this if you like: That taste in your mouth after you've been violently sick.