Life

Craft beer: Ice cream and jam doughnut flavours from Thornbridge and Tiny Rebel

Strawberry Lucaria from Thornbridge – billed as an ice cream porter
Strawberry Lucaria from Thornbridge – billed as an ice cream porter Strawberry Lucaria from Thornbridge – billed as an ice cream porter

IT’S a familiar scenario for many couples out for a nice romantic meal and, pardon me for making a sweeping generalisation here, but things usually play out like this:

Man orders dessert, woman says she doesn’t want one. Man’s dessert arrives and woman either eats it or complains that she doesn’t like it. This is where my own penchant for a sticky toffee pudding with custard gets me into hot water, by the way.

Now, I am willing to accept that the roles can be reversed on occasion, but when it comes to dessert I find that some people have to have it while others could do without.

I think it’s pretty obvious at this stage that I fall into the former category so when I see breweries combining beer and desserts, naturally I am sold.

I managed to indulge my sweet tooth with a couple of such beers this week. First up was Strawberry Lucaria from Thornbridge, which clocks in at 4.5 per cent. This is billed as an ice cream porter, which was intriguing as porters and stouts tend not to be a go-to summer beer for me.

Anyway, this one claimed to boast flavours of Neopolitan ice cream, which are chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. There is a lovely, rich malty taste to this beer, but it’s not too heavy and there is definitely a sharp sweetness to it you would expect from strawberries.

It has the smoothness of a milk stout, but the fruitiness makes it almost a summer porter, if there is such a thing. OK, I suppose there is now.

Next up was Pump Up The Jam by Welsh wizards of the brewing world Tiny Rebel. It’s not often you read a description of a beer which makes you think ‘well, that’s a new one on me’ but a ‘jam doughnut pale ale’ is definitely like nothing I’ve ever come across.

I could go into the intricacies of the flavours here, but it can best summed up with one word – Ronseal. This is a 5 per cent beer which does exactly what it says on the tin. It tastes just like a jam doughnut – sweet and fruity but with the flavour of soft pastry too.

There’s no need to play that game where you attempt eat a jam doughnut without licking your lips, just crack open a can of this and you’re on to a winner.