This is a tasty American pale ale by Electric Bear Brewing and I was very surprised to find it in Marks & Spencer’s. Gone are the days where you could only buy M&S own brand beers in their food halls, or even mass produced craft beers from breweries like Camden Town Brewery. Electric Bear Brewery are a microbrewery based in Bath and if M&S are going to start stocking their beer aisle with exclusive craft beers then that is fantastic news, especially for the commuter that wants to have a good beer on the train.
Appearance: A light amber colour, good white head after pouring and fairly clear.
Aroma: This one is really interesting, after a little swirl and a deep breath, I got an almost blackcurrant soda smell with a hint of grass. Very pleasant.
Taste: Almost as typical as APAs get but not unpleasant at all. A nice hoppy, biscuity taste with a hints of orange peel and a slight bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Very light, crisp and smooth.
Overall: This is pretty pleasant APA from Electric Bear Brewery, it’s a very easy beer to drink and at only 4.2% ABV it’s very sessionable. This cost £3.50 (440ml can) and is only available (I think) from Marks & Spencer’s food halls.
ABV: 4.2%
Rating: 3.25 / 5
About Electric Bear Brewery
Based in Bath, Electric Bear Brewing Co. was born from the dream of escaping the garage, increasing capacity and building a brand-new brewery creating great, innovative, delicious, modern beer that delivers on that ‘glad to be alive’ vibe.
Their approach to brewing is simple: produce consistently great tasting beers of all styles from easy-drinking ales to highly-hopped, high strength beers – from their core range to the experimental small batch nanobrews.
The name of the brewery comes from the old Bear Brewery that used to stand on the corner of the Wellsway, next to the Bear Inn in the Bear Flat area of Bath. Electric derives from how they power their brewhouse kettle (AKA the ‘copper’ - the vessel used to boil the wort during brewing). That original Bear Brewery is now gone – the victim of a WWII Baedeker bombing raid in April 1942.