The resurgence of beer continues and with barley production and processing having such prominence in my neck of the woods thanks to the work of H. Banham , all the growers, and Crisp Maltings , I think it’s only right to honour some local breweries with a mention too. So in what has become a regular annual blog post for me, here’s a list of my favourite Norfolk beers of 2016. Unsurprisingly, Maris Otter features strongly:
Lacons Brewery – Encore (3.8%) A superb session beer that I’ve found to be consistently good wherever served. Fragrant citrussy aroma. Resinous flavour, but not overpowering, balanced with a chewy biscuity malt background. A long and dry finish. This beer has collected no less than eight awards in the last two years alone, including best Bitter in the world under 4.0% ABV, which is testament to its quality and flavour. At a push I’d say this is my favourite Norfolk beer of the year.
Humpty Dumpty – Lemon and Ginger (4.0%) Despite being very familiar with the range of beers from the Humpty Dumpty Brewery I had until this year generally passed up the opportunity to try Lemon and Ginger. I can’t explain why, but I never seemed to be in the right mood and to be honest I was more than a little reticent at the prospect. The idea of lemon and ginger just brought to mind cough medicines and throat lozenges. How wrong I was. One of the Humpty Dumpty core beers and I can understand why now. An e