Brewery: Craigmill Brewery
Location: Strathaven, Scotland, ML10 6PB
ABV: 3.9%
Version: 500ml bottle

Continuing my little mini beer odyssey through the beers of the Craigmill Brewery this is a companion to the previously reviewed Aleberry Damson Beer, Old Mortality and Clydesdale IPA. As it says in the name, it’s a light ale and you might wonder why a small brewery which already produces a fine IPA needs a light ale too. Well the answer is that this is created from a fifty mix of wheat and lager malts – the result is a very pale, straw coloured beer which resembles a lager without the flow of bubbles. The taste is clear without being too strong or intrusive, nice and smooth (which seems to be a hallmark of the brewery), bitter with a nice aftertaste, which seems to improve as the pint progresses.

According to the blurb the combination of wheat and lager malts is to offer the real ale drinker a decent choice for a light, refreshing beer during the summer months. Obviously since I picked it up during an autumn brewery visit I can’t say I’ve tested it under ‘actual combat conditions’ (then again, given the weather we had even if I had it in the summer it wouldn’t have been a real test!), but I can see a potential in this as a nice warm weather pint – we all get that problem, after all, on the occasional hot day when our taste buds wants ale but want something cool like a lager and its good to see some alternatives (and several others seem to be doing the same for the beer drinker too these days, Innis & Gunn spring to mind, saving us from the usually disappointing temptation of Guinness Cold on a summer day).

As an experiment I chilled one bottle in the fridge and had one just stored in the more usual cool spot; both went down very well and although it doesn’t say it should be served chilled I think come next summer it would make quite a refreshing drink if given just a little time in the fridge; meantime it makes a very nice, light beer for a lunchtime refreshment or afternoon pint.