Dent Brewery

It's been ages since I'd tried a beer from Dent - so when one caught my eye recently I grabbed an armful and settled in for a reappraisal.


I'm glad I did; all three beers I tasted where not only much better then I remembered them, but consistently good too. This consistency is the sign of a good brewer and can be surprisingly hard to find. First up was Kamikaze (5% abv). A golden ale with more than a hint of Summer Lightning about it, Kamikaze is very quaffable despite the abv. On the nose there's a little grassiness and only a slight green hop aroma. Dry, with a slight biscuity taste in the body, the emphasis here is on refreshment - there's a lively, lemony tang to the aftertaste.

Going up in complexity is Aviator (4% abv). Vibrant amber in colour, this has got much more about it - marmalade and boiled sweets coming through in the body, with a decent floral nose with that slight citrus aroma that the Kamikaze had. This is a juicy, full-flavoured beer that I could happily drink a lot of; an English Amber Ale. Fans of Fuller's Special London Ale should check this out.

Last up - and my favourite of the bunch - was the wonderful T'owd Tup (6% abv). Wonderfully smooth for its strength, T'owd Tup is a warming, dark chestnut ale with masses of body - my notes read 'Christmas Cake, Plums, Jam, Dark Chocolate with Coffee at the end' which about sums it up. With so much flavour and complexity it'd be easy to mess this up, but T'owd Tup is a resounding success. My initial impressions were of that other famous Sheep-related Strong Dark Ale, Black Sheep's Riggwelter, but where Riggwelter wears its strength on its sleeve, T'owd Tup manages to be supremely drinkable as well. This is going to be one beer my cellar is going to be stocking as those nights draw in.