Old Craddock

Now I've done something I don't normally do with this one and waited untill the day after to write up the blog.  Also hello again, I've had a break from blogging about beers and although my current audience is fairly limited I hope that one day it won't be and people will go back through these past beer blogs.  Old Craddock is a beer from the Lakes District, particularly Hesket Newmarket in Cumbria.  I have blogged about beers from this part of the world before as it is something of a hotbed for micro breweries and this is something that excites me as a growth industry.  Anyone who has never visited The Lakes is urged by myself to do so, it is gorgeous and has many fine pubs serving the local brews.  This is my first beer from Hesket Newmarket Breweries and I was pleased to learn that there are several more to try.  Perfect excuse to get up to The Lakes this summer!

 So the beer itself, the colour was a cloudy caramel one.  The cloudiness came from the bottle conditioned sediment which is something I love.  You could pour the beer very carefully and avoid the cloud but I did not, in fact I often use the German method of rolling the bottle with the last bit left in to stir up the bits for maximum flavour.  The nose was very interesting and by that I mean hard to read.  It took a good few sniffs but the scents came through and it was lovely.  There was some sweet malt at first which I did not expect and have not come across much.  Dried fruits and spices are not unexpected and where rich and full.  The overall rich juiciness was very pleasant and developed.  After a while a surprising peachy scent came through which delighted me!  
The first sip had summer fruits in it which I would expect in certain red wines but not in a beer it was fantastic though.  There was some resinous caramel flavours which I expected from the colour and really helped give this beer an all round quaffing quality.  The spices from the nose developed in to very smooth flavours and were really tasty.  To finish up some mild hoppyness.  Anyone familiar with my blog will know about my love of frothy fizzy beers but this one had a very low fizz with little frothiness.  It didn't really detract form the overall beer which I would have again anytime but not before I've tried the rest!