Beer Review: Golden Glory

Evening all, I am about to embark on a journey beyond time and space, I've left Crete and entered the Demilitar... I'm quoting Good Morning Vietnam. This is not a good start. I'm actually drinking a beer, so it's review time.

Tonight I am drinking Badger's Golden Glory.

With a name like that I should have guessed that this was a summer beer. I mean, I think the last time I had one of these it was the height of summer and it was long before I started reviewing beers, even in my head, back then I was simply having a different beer every week. Anyway, it was time to try it properly. It claimed to be "curiously peachy" on the bottle and boy, was it ever! On opening there was a definite peach aroma, very strong and easily pllaced. Not unpleasant, but a little unexpected. I half expected the taste to be so fruity that I would be drinking juice rather than beer.

However, it wasn't. At all. I mean, as you sip it the aroma gets in to the mouth and there is a hint of peach as you close your mouth. But it is gone, washed away in an instant, by the actual beer itself. And the beer is rather thin in taste. I mean, it's 4.5% ABV, so not incredibly weak nor particularly strong. It's in that zone that I rather like my beers to be in. But there's, I dunno, not a great deal of depth to it. It's just... thin. There's a zestiness to it, certainly, that builds a little and there is a nice element of fizz to it that allows it to dance quite well without stamping on your toes whilst doing so. But there's no fire in the belly, nothing to grab on to and instead just that smell digging in your ribs as you try desperately to pull this closer to you.

After-taste is interesting, but not a lot else. There's something to it, a sugary quality I suppose, a sweetness and lightness that speaks of a warm day that needs to be tamed or a nice meadow awash with flowers and humming with beers. I guess I was expecting something a little heavier, perhaps more honey, than what I got (though in fairness the bottle does not flag up anything that would have made me think so apart from the 'golden' in the title). It's serviceable and will no doubt serve for me this evening, but it lacked the 'punch' that I suppose I was looking for.

Drink this best in the summer, in the sunshine, on a warm day when you're looking to simply enjoy yourself. Drink it at whatever speed you wish but make sure you are thirsty first because this is actually a thirst quencher. Enjoy the smell, the pungent peach, because that is easily the best quality of this particular beer. It's like Rose wine - unobtrusive and light, the perfect accompaniment to a light lunch of salad and some croutons. Have a good dressing with those rocket leaves, bring in some toasted french loaf and a small amount, the barest hint, of brie.  Then be sure to follow it up with a proper shepherd's pie and some gravy and a big pint of something like 1698.

Though I must confess, the longer you drink it and the closer you get to the end of the pint the nicer the whole thing becomes.  It mellows.  Also, it's 4.5% and I'm a complete lightweight - make of that what you will.