Far too many good breweries have fallen by the wayside over the years, and King and Barnes was one of those. This Horsham, Sussex, brewery first went into business all the way back in 1800, but unfortunately it was taken over in 2000 by another brewery and now ceases to exist as a company. The brewery which bought out King and Barnes has the rights to brew beers under the King and Barnes name, but I've not seen nor heard of any (at least in the U.S.), so it seems some pretty good beers are no longer available.
Anyway, I had my share of some King and Barnes beers back in the day, meaning a couple of decades back, and I liked every one I drank. The Festive Ale was one of my favorites, and fortunately I still had access to a review I wrote for the beer a long while back.
The King and Barnes Festive Ale was a pleasant surprise for me because it reminded me of a somewhat strong winter brew, and normally I don't care for winter and holiday beers because I find them too sweet and I'm no fan of cinnamon and nutmeg, flavors common enough in such drinks. Here, however, there wasn't a lot of that cinnamon and nutmeg, though there was plenty of sturdiness and a slight sweetness that tasted of maple. The only drawback here was I felt there was a tad too much fizz for my liking.
No comments:
Post a Comment