Brew Pub Bottled

Sometimes you just want a couple of beers, a couple of beers that aren't going to strip your tastebuds with powerful hops, or coat your palette with malty richness. Sometimes you just want something quaffable and familiar. At times like this you turn to Pale Ales. Not India Pale Ales, they'll kick you in the face, but something easier drinking. This evening The Beer Mistress arrived home with just such a beer, a Kerry Lane Pale Ale from The Cotton Ball Brewing Co.

The Cotton Ball is a pub in Cork's Mayfield, perhaps an unusual spot in which to find a busy Brew Pub, and they've recently start bottling their house-brews - of which they are producing four. A Stout, a Lager, a Pale Ale and an unusual Ale-Lager Hybrid "Summer Ale".

I was delighted because this was one of those nights. Just a beer or two after a long week in work to relax with on a Friday. It pours a lovely inviting golden-orange, almost amber colour, with a fluffy head. It's not overly carbonated, and the nose is reminiscent of English pale ales like Old Speckled Hen or Bishops Finger. The blurb on the label tells of "traditional" and "classic" hops, I'm assuming East Kent Goldings or Fuggles are in the mix, the typical English hops - however there is an obvious new-world addition too, lifting this ale away from the oftentimes flat and uninviting English bitter territory and into the realm of other Irish Pale Ales, and this takes it's place among them with ease.