Brewery: Hilden
Location: Hilden, Northern Ireland
ABV: 5.3%
Version: 500ml bottle

Cathedral Quarter is the second of Hilden Brewery’s beers celebrating revitalised sections of the city of  Belfast, dedicated this time to the area around St Anne’s Cathedral. The first beer in the range, Titanic Quarter, I covered back at the end of August 2008.

Billed as a classic red ale it’s no surprise when the beer pours a coppery red colour. There’s almost no sign of any aroma, just the faintest hints of caramel and fruit. The inital taste is of some very light malt with a touch of biscuity caramel, quickly elbowed aside by a rough, and not particularly pleasant, bitterness. The caramel regains its footing later as the bitterness subsides a little but on the whole the taste seemed musty, as though some of the ingredients were past their best. Fortunately the finish is much better, with more of that biscuity caramel smoothing things over but to me it’s still a typically average beer from Hilden and not one I’d rush out to get again.

Brewery: Hilden
Location: Hilden, Northern Ireland
ABV: 4.2%
Version 500ml bottle

Inspired by cultural quarters of Belfast, Hilden Brewery recently launched some new beers (not that you’d know by looking at their website) and Titanic Quarter (as the area where you would find the now closed Harland & Wolff shipyard which built the ill-fated Titanic is now known) is the first bottle to make it into the shops. I’m not a great fan of Hilden’s product, as my College Green posts would clearly indicate, but they are local and I’ll keep sampling their wares just in case they produce something to my taste.

Pouring a golden yellow colour with a moderate level of fizz, this ale is light on the malt flavour with a subtle, not overpowering, hoppy bitterness. This results in a light refreshing ale which, while not spectacular, is one of Hilden’s better contributions and I’d certainly have another if I was offered it.