Brewery: William Bros Brewing Co
Location: Kelliebank, Alloa, Scotland, FK10 1NT
ABV: 4.2%
Version: 500ml bottle

You may have come across the micro-brewed beers of Bruce and Scott, the William Bros, before as they do some rather nice beers. And because Ed just reviewed Good Times from the same brewery (we’ve both obviously been grabbing similar liquid loot from our respective Sainsbury’s branches). This was the first time I had tried a fruity one from them though. And you are probably asking what the heck is a Tayberry? Well I must confess I hadn’t heard of them either, but the label blurb informs me that it’s a cross between a Raspberry and Blackberry (the fruit, not the trendy phone/PDA) grown in the Tay river area of Scotland.

Roisin (pronounced Rosheen) is apparently ‘pink’ according to the blurb. Which shows you why you can’t always believe label blurb because, well, it isn’t pink. Although really I think the boys were being humorous from the tone of the blurb, so I won’t hold that against them! Actually the colour is rather more like the warm red of firelight reflected in brass or copper; quite attractive and inviting. There is an enticing fruity aroma, although I noticed by the time I was halfway through my pint it wasn’t as strong, but perhaps that might just be my nose becoming used to the scent – you know how it is once you’re around an aroma for a little while, you don’t notice it so much, so that’s fairly subjective.

The taste is very smooth, fairly light (no mean feat with it being a 4.2% ale), very enjoyable, nice malty, hoppy taste and, unsurprisingly, a nice fruity tone to it, pleasantly light but slightly sweet (bit not too much) aftertaste. Overall a lovely, light, enjoyable and  a rather fun beer from the William boys. And like Innis & Gunn its recommended to be chilled a bit beforehand – maybe not so important as we enter autumn but a thought when next summer comes around. I find some fruity beers can be a bit overpowering, but I think this has the balance rather well between scent and taste, between fruitness and beerness. I think I may have to stick some more of these on the rack.