Siren - Liquid Mistress

Have I mentioned that I now work for The Bottle Shop? You remember, right? That shop that I always plug on account of all the amazing beer they sell? No? Well, to cut a long story short, I quit my old job that mostly concerned the repositioning of crates of vegetables and accepted a position where I got to share beery love with the beautiful people of Canterbury... And beyond.

This is a beer review though and what better beer to review than one that has, in my 2 shifts in the shop, become one of the quickest selling beers we have. Liquid Mistress by Siren Craft Brew, a 5.8% Red IPA is joined by Undercurrent, Soundwave and Broken Dreams in the Bottle Shop line up, but this is the one that really caught my eye. People in the shop have raved about Siren and I needed to get myself up to speed!

The pour is satisfying, there are 2 fingers of head that leave heavy speckling that rests unevenly atop a body that looks black to the naked eye but turns a crusted blood red when held up to the light. The aroma is intoxicating! Heavy dollops of Turkish delight meet and then make vigorous love to your nostrils upon first, second, third and fourth sniff. I couldn't keep going, I had to stop for a cigarette. On top of that I didn't want to get too shagged out before I actually drank it. What a smell! How does that even happen?! The smell is not just inviting but it's inviting the same way a drunken "booty call" text is inviting.

There's still the chance that this could be all mouth and no trousers. Let's see what it tastes like.

Nope, precisely no chance of this being disappointing at all. The flavour comes in stages, starting with sweet malt, heading into a middle core that's sharply bitter and ending with a mellow hoppy roundness, which mixed with the smell, makes the whole thing taste exactly like Turkish delight. I imagine what they've probably done is brewed this with a whole ton of rose water (they probably didn't) and if that's the case then I applaud them (I applaud them anyway) because that's a bold move and this is absolutely delicious (it's still delicious even if that isn't what they did.) Liquid Mistress is a deeply sexual experience for the average beer geek and just a regulation pleasant experience for everyone else... Non-beer geeks don't know what they're missing...

Food suggestion: The Germans once had liquid bread. This is one component of a liquid sweet shop. You don't need anything else!

Drink this if you like: Freakin' Turkish delight! How many times do I have to say it?!