Meantime - India Pale Ale

Maybe not the most imaginative name in the world but you get what it says on the bottle. Meantime are a typically no nonsense brand who deliver exactly what they say they're going to deliver... With the exception of their chocolate porter, which tastes more like coffee but they can't exactly be blamed for that, Porters are hard. Everything about this IPA is no nonsense, from its simple name to its gargantuan bottle, a 750ml bottle of 7.4% beer, which is equivalent to a bottle of weak wine but  immeasurably more pleasurable.

On the nose it smells a bit like liquorice and rye bread and it's coloured a thick, murky, brown with a head frothy enough for you to genuinely wonder whether anything lurks in the shadows of your hefty glass. It looks, for all intents and purposes, like swamp water but tastes like a toastie made with burnt nutella or dark chocolate and rye. It's smooth with a slight caustic bitterness that isn't unpleasant and adds a different level. I wouldn't call this a traditional IPA, though it may claim to be, but maybe that's because modern IPAs seem to be more powerful with their hopping where this has used different, more subtle hops.

Meantime IPA can be bought by the wine bottle for less than a fiver in most shops and is well worth your time, money and effort. Buy it if you fancy something interesting and don't intend on driving for a couple of days.

Food Suggestion: The label says it would go well with Indian cuisine and it's hard to disagree with that. I can see this going especially well with a Biryani or a Madras, nothing too hot, this isn't a glass of milk, it won't help you.

Drink this if you like: I've not come across these flavour combinations in a beer before, they're interesting and confusing, whilst being deeply enjoyable. If you like other London staples like Fuller's or Brodie's, or if you enjoy the rest of the Meantime repertoire then you are bound to enjoy this.