Lurking next to the Orcs Black Ale, I found this bottle of CAMRA 25th Anniversary Ale.

Brewed back in 1996 by George Gale & Co (who were acquired by Fuller’s back in 2005), this 7.1% ale was brewed with Maris Otter barley and Fuggles, Goldings and Challenger hops.

I’m guessing it’s an IPA-style golden ale? Hard to tell through the brown glass, of course. I can’t find any information on the CAMRA website and Google isn’t turning up anything either.

I’m pretty sure this came into my possession by accident a few years back. I think it was courtesy of Jo’s Nan, who had decided to clear out her own drinks cabinet and had found this bottle lurking behind the sweet sherry, Bells whisky and Canada Dry. I said “thank you very much” and brought it home, at which point it disappeared into our drinks cabinet and was forgotten about until a few weeks ago.

The best-before date is given as April 2000, but with its 7.1% ABV and – from the sounds of the label – plenty in the way of hop-content, I suppose there’s a chance it might still be drinkable..?

What do the beer congnoscenti among you reckon? Best keep the cap firmly on? Possibly rank, but worth risking? Entirely safe to drink and most likely delicious? Or even, worth saving for CAMRA’s 50th anniversary in 2021? I’d love to know what the experts out there think.

Here’s a close-up of the label. Click for a larger version if you’d like to see it in a bit more detail:

Brewery: George Gale & Co (Fuller’s)
Origin: Horndean, Hampshire, England
ABV: 3.8%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

After sipping my way through a series of stronger ales recently, I thought I’d slow things down a little with a quick summer brew and George Gale & Co’s Summer Breeze seemed to fit the bill.

The label promises “light, smooth and crisp” and that’s pretty much what you get. But the pour is a bit on the thin and watery side, there’s almost no head at all and whilst there’s a faint, fruity flavour to begin with, that quickly fades. There’s little else to report: it’s not particularly bitter, not particularly sweet. All in all, it’s inoffensive enough, but rather unmemorable as a result.

Chilled and served al fresco on a hot day, Summer Breeze would probably make an acceptable alternative to whatever fizzy, chemical-raddled lager everyone else was quaffing, and if you had a lager-drinking friend you wanted to wean onto stronger and more interesting stuff, then it could make a decent starting point. But it’s not one I’ll be rushing to re-visit.