Beer Review: Animee Lemon

Tonight's newbie is Animee Lemon because Willow noticed it and was intrigued. Mind you, it is an odd-looking thing so I kind of understand where she's coming from.

It was on offer, we got four for the kind of prices you'd expect to get two normal bottles (and slightly less all told), then settled down to try it out. It claims to be beer. Would you like to know more?



First of all, it comes in a very small bottle, some 275ml, and although it weighs in at 4% ABV it is in such small portions there's no danger of it getting to you quickly. It's a light beer, indeed, it seems suspiciously light given the ales I've had since starting my little jaunt some time last year. The flavour is indeed very lemony, which is fine and dandy, but not really what I've come to expect from beer. It has a slight fizz, less than I'm used to actually, and it's a bit like having a lager rather than a proper drink. Stiil, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Aroma is tangy, taste is fresh and there's a hint of soft drink about it. It's not cheap at £5 for 4 small bottles but nor will it break the bank. It doesn't really produce a head nor does it go straight to yours. Nice enough, you can have it with chocolates and not spoil them, but the flavour is strong - meaning that you can't really try another new beer after you've tried it and hope to have an objective experience with it. I ended up having a Thoroughbred Gold afterwards. There's not a lot else to mention here, it tastes very lemon-y and remains fizzy throughout. I suppose there's something of a malt there, enough that this doesn't fit an alcoholic lemonade style drink, but there's not much to get one's teeth into. It opens with lemon, stays with the lemon, leaves a lemon after-taste and there's lemon down the sides. Not too thin, no great mouthfeel and just... well, it's lemon beer. Not sure who would buy this or who it is aimed at - I mean, I bought it, but I do wonder what the marketing department thought they were doing. It's not bad, you see, just... well, odd. You could happily have traditional lemonade with small shots of decent vodka (or less decent of you add lemon cordial first and top it up with cheap lemonade) and get a similar effect for probably less money and then have a decent ale afterwards.

Nice enough, not to my tastes, a bit wet. Enjoy with a box of chocolates whilst waiting for your girlfriends to finish on the karaoke machine. Quaff straight from the bottle and buy a pack between four of you, I expect it does better in numbers. Spirited, young, and will no doubt feature in posh University parties or at barbeques.